[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 98 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 98
Condemning Beijing's destruction of Hong Kong's democracy and rule of
law.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 26, 2025
Mr. Risch (for himself and Mrs. Shaheen) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Condemning Beijing's destruction of Hong Kong's democracy and rule of
law.
Whereas, in 1997, Great Britain handed Hong Kong over to Chinese rule under
guarantees that Hong Kong would become a Special Administrative Region
under the ``one country, two systems'' principle, pursuant to which Hong
Kong's Basic Law would apply and would enshrine ``fundamental rights''
of Hong Kong residents and a political structure, including an
independent judiciary, the right to vote, and freedoms of assembly and
speech, among others;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has repeatedly
undermined Hong Kong's autonomy since the 1997 handover, including
actions which resulted in political protests in Hong Kong, including the
2014 Umbrella Movement protesting Beijing's attempt to reform Hong
Kong's electoral system, and the 2019-2020 protests, which opposed the
Hong Kong government's decision to implement an extradition law that
would have subjected Hong Kongers to prosecution in mainland China;
Whereas the Hong Kong Police Force used excessive force to try to quell the
2019-2020 protestors, many of whom were under the age of 30;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China responded to these
protests by passing and implementing the Law of the People's Republic of
China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region (commonly referred to as the ``Hong Kong national
security law'') a poorly defined criminal statute with extraterritorial
reach that includes overly broad charges to punish people for exercising
their fundamental rights and freedoms;
Whereas, since its enactment in June 2020, this law has been used by the
Government of the People's Republic of China as a pretext to crack down
on legitimate and peaceful expression, including the exercise of
freedoms of assembly, speech, and religious belief guaranteed to Hong
Kong under the Basic Law, to replace the Hong Kong legislature with
individuals loyal to the Chinese Communist Party, and to pass new
immigration laws that subject Hong Kong citizens and residents, as well
as PRC nationals and foreign nationals, to exit bans in Hong Kong
similar to those implemented in mainland China;
Whereas, in March 2024, the Hong Kong government enacted national security
legislation to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law, officially called
the ``Safeguarding National Security Ordinance'' and also referred to as
the ``Article 23 Ordinance'', which expanded the number of broadly
defined national security criminal offenses to include, among other
things, ``external interference'' and ``sabotage'', weakened legal
protections for suspects accused of national security offenses,
authorized new punitive measures targeting Hong Kong citizens and non-
citizens overseas, and created risks for Hong Kong residents who
interact with foreigners;
Whereas nearly 300 people have been arrested under the Hong Kong national
security law and the Article 23 Ordinance;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China uses the Hong Kong
national security law and the Article 23 Ordinance to harass, target,
and threaten non-Hong Kong citizens and those outside of Hong Kong, and
has become a significant perpetrator of transnational repression,
including by posting cash bounties for democracy activists living in
self-exile outside of Hong Kong;
Whereas, on November 19, 2024, the Hong Kong government sentenced a group of
pro-democracy activists, journalists, and former lawmakers commonly
known as the ``Hong Kong 47'' to jail terms ranging between 4 and 10
years as a demonstration of the Hong Kong government's willingness to
intimidate and persecute its political opponents;
Whereas, Mr. Jimmy Lai, a 77-year-old Hong Kong pro-democracy advocate and media
entrepreneur, has been targeted and persecuted for decades, most
recently through multiple prosecutions, including related to exercising
his rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression,
his sentencing to over five years in prison under politically motivated
fraud charges and the seizure of his multimillion dollar independent
media organization Apple Daily by the Hong Kong authorities;
Whereas, Mr. Lai, one of the highest profile cases under the 2020 ``national
security law'', has been imprisoned in solitary confinement with
inadequate medical treatment since December 31, 2020;
Whereas 5 Special Rapporteurs, as well as the United Nations Human Rights
Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, have found that Mr. Lai is
unlawfully and arbitrarily detained and have called for his immediate
and unconditional release;
Whereas the trial of Mr. Lai, which began on December 18, 2023, has been delayed
repeatedly;
Whereas international legal experts at the United Nations have expressed
concerns regarding prosecutors' use of witness testimony against Mr. Lai
that may have been obtained through torture, Hong Kong authorities'
interference with the independence of the judiciary throughout the case,
and harassment and intimidation of Mr. Lai's lawyers, undermining his
right to a defense;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China's undermining of
democracy in Hong Kong has ramifications for the international order,
including with regard to the future of Taiwan;
Whereas the Hong Kong government has conducted a public relations campaign to
convince global business leaders that Hong Kong remains a critical and
attractive international financial center, while simultaneously
undermining the independence of institutions that encouraged its growth
over the past several decades;
Whereas Hong Kong has increasingly become a hub for the transshipment of export-
controlled goods and sanctions evasion relating to the People's Republic
of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Russian
Federation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, directly supporting
Russia's defense industrial base and enabling its continuing war of
aggression against Ukraine;
Whereas Hong Kong still maintains a separate voting share from the People's
Republic of China at many multilateral organizations--including the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the Financial Action Task Force, the
International Olympic Committee, and the World Trade Organization--
effectively doubling the People's Republic of China's voting power at
these critical institutions; and
Whereas the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (Public Law 116-76; 22
U.S.C. 5701 note), signed into law in November 2019, requires the
President to impose sanctions to promote accountability for those
responsible for certain conduct that undermines fundamental freedoms and
autonomy in Hong Kong: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) condemns the Government of the People's Republic of
China's ``Hong Kong national security law'', the Hong Kong
government's ``Safeguarding National Security Ordinance'', and
related abuses of internationally recognized human rights;
(2) urges all governments that value democracy or autonomy
to hold the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong
authorities accountable for their destruction of Hong Kong's
autonomy, rule of law, and freedoms;
(3) supports the people of Hong Kong as they fight to
exercise fundamental rights and freedoms, as enumerated by--
(A) the Joint Declaration of the Government of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
and the Government of the People's Republic of China on
the Question of Hong Kong, done at Beijing December 19,
1984;
(B) the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, done at New York December 19, 1966;
and
(C) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, done
at Paris December 10, 1948;
(4) condemns the Government of the People's Republic of
China's practice of bringing false and politically motivated
charges against Hong Kongers and the expansion of Hong Kong's
national security regime that destroys the rule of law and
undermines citizens' rights in Hong Kong;
(5) calls upon the Hong Kong government to immediately drop
all sedition, national security law, and Article 23-related
charges and free all defendants immediately, including Jimmy
Lai;
(6) expresses extreme concern about the Government of the
People's Republic of China' state-directed theft of Apple
Daily, and holds that Hong Kong no longer has credibility as an
international business center due to the erosion of the
regulatory, legal, and judicial environments that have promoted
its economic growth for decades;
(7) encourages the United States Government and other
governments to take steps at multilateral institutions to
ensure that voting procedures recognize that there is no longer
a meaningful distinction between Hong Kong and mainland China;
and
(8) urges the United States Government to use all available
and appropriate tools, including those authorized by the Hong
Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, in response to the
Government of the People's Republic of China's actions in Hong
Kong.
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