Marc Thiessen: Trump must threaten China with 'brain drain' and 'capital flight' amid Hong Kong crackdown

Washington Post columnist and Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen previewed President Trump's Friday announcement dealing with China on "The Story" Thursday, predicting that the president would "impose sanctions" on the Beijing government in response to its moves to restrict Hong Kong's autonomy.

"He's going to tell ... the Chinese regime, 'What you're doing is unacceptable,'" Thiessen said. "When this [national security] law takes effect in September, the Chinese regime is going to be able to ban pro-democracy groups, arrest people for political crimes. They're going to allow the state security service, which is the Chinese secret police that terrorizes people all over mainland China, to operate openly in Hong Kong, which they have not been allowed to do.

"This is an end to Hong Kong's autonomy and an end to Hong Kong's freedom," Thiessen added.

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Shortly after China’s legislature endorsed a national security law for Hong Kong on Thursday, the United States, and governments of Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement arguing the legislation would “curtail the Hong Kong people’s liberties."

The New York Times reported Thursday the White House plans to cancel visas for thousands of Chinese graduate students affiliated with Chinese universities tied to the People’s Liberation Army.

"President Trump's going to have some big decisions to make, not just tomorrow," Thiessen said. "Tomorrow's the first step ... But they haven't implemented the security law yet.

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"He's [Trump's] going to have to send a message to [Chinese President] Xi Jinping that, look, if you launch a military crackdown ... in Hong Kong, if you arrest the democracy leaders, if you ban these elections, we're going to repeal the Hong Kong Policy Act. We're going to take away the preferential trade status. We're going to welcome Hong Kong people into the United States ... you're going to have brain drain and capital flight."

"We're going to welcome those people here, because those are the kinds of people we need to rebuild the post-COVID economy," Thiessen said. "If you don't want them, we'll take them."

Fox News' Brie Stimson and Joshua Nelson contributed to this report.