On Thanksgiving Day (in the evening, actually) Hong Kong protesters decided to sing the American national anthem as a gesture of thanks for President Trump signing two bills into law Wednesday that condemned China. When they were done with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the protesters chanted “USA, USA, USA.”

This is absolutely beautiful to watch. I actually had tears in my eyes when I first saw it. The passion of these people for liberty is amazing and incredibly inspiring.

The first of the two bills signed into law by President Trump on Wednesday requires the State Department to certify once a year that Hong Kong is sufficiently autonomous to retain its special U.S. trading consideration. The second bill, meanwhile, makes it illegal to sell munitions like tear gas and rubber bullets to Hong Kong police.

To the Hong Kong protesters, these bills are proof that the United States has their back. America offers them moral support, and they are grateful for it.

Beautiful and touching. No doubt about it.

However, I’m afraid I’ll have to repeat my words from Thursday: by signing these bills into law, Trump is angering China to a degree we haven’t seen in quite some time. Although many authoritarian regimes would take a step back when condemned by the U.S., Beijing has a habit of stepping it up a notch. As I wrote yesterday, China’s response to such condemnations is always: “Oh, you want us to stop doing it? Guess what, we’ll do it even more!”

No, China will not act directly against the U.S. But these brave Hong Kong protesters — the very same ones who were singing The Star-Spangled Banner yesterday and chanting “USA, USA, USA” while waving American flags — will be held to account by President Xi Jinping and his fellow communist, authoritarian-corporatist cronies.