The committee also regularly alerted members to trade policies likely to influence business between Hong Kong, China and the Americas. Among these was the Cox Report, which recommended that the U.S. conduct studies on customs arrangements maintained by Hong Kong with respect to the PRC and whether it was practical to continue treating Hong Kong differently from the PRC for U.S. export control purposes.

"To protect members' business interests, the Chamber immediately responded by conducting meetings with trade department officials to reiterate the effectiveness of Hong Kong's strategic trade control system," Mr Yuen said. "It also initiated internal research to monitor the progress of the State Department Authorisation Bill, published details of the Cox Report in the Chamber's magazine, The Bulletin, for members' information, and organised a roundtable to update members on the developments of the issue."

China's landmark WTO accord with the U.S. also kept the committee extremely busy. Besides lending its support to the Chamber's WTO report, the committee also initiated several roundtable discussions on China's WTO membership and its impact on trade between the U.S., China and Hong Kong, he said.

The Chamber took a pro-active approach regarding China's normal trading relations (NTR). Mr Yuen said the committee encouraged members to solicit support from their business counterparts in the U.S. to lobby Congress to grant China NTR status.

Last July the U.S. decided to extend NTR status to China for another year. This year, Congress has to vote on whether to grant China Permanent NTR and the Chamber will continue its lobbying efforts to this end, he said.