Capitol Hill –
Honorary Speaker of the U.S. Congress Nancy Pelosi (Rep. Nancy Pelosi) criticized a national security bill passed by the Hong Kong Legislative Council earlier this week as “an alarming expansion of the Chinese Communist Party’s infringement of Hong Kong’s freedoms.” Pelosi accused that this once again showed that Beijing had betrayed its commitment to one country, two systems. At the same time, some members of Congress from both parties are worried that this legislative measure will become an excuse for the Hong Kong government to arbitrarily suppress civil rights and freedoms.
On Tuesday (March 19), the Hong Kong Legislative Council quickly and unanimously passed the bill called the “Maintenance of National Security Ordinance” (the “23 Draft”), which aroused the concern of members of both parties in the U.S. Congress.
The bill officially comes into effect on Saturday (March 23). This legislative measure originates from the national security provisions of Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, which aims to combat “treason, rebellion, sedition, theft of state secrets, espionage, sabotage and foreign interference.” A person accused of violating this legislation can be jailed for seven years or more, up to life imprisonment, if found guilty.
Honorary Speaker of the U.S. Congress Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, and the leaders of the two parties of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) jointly held a press conference on Friday (March 22). Condemned the passage of Hong Kong’s “Article 23” legislation.
“The so-called ‘national security law’ shockingly expands the Chinese Communist Party’s infringement of Hong Kong’s freedoms,” Pelosi said. “There is no doubt that the so-called ‘national security’ is just a simple excuse to further define civil rights as crimes, and silence pro-democracy voices.”
“We are gathered here, Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate, and we have two purposes: to unequivocally condemn this measure and to express solidarity with Hong Kong’s freedom fighters,” Pelosi said.
The former Speaker of Parliament, who has long spoken out for human rights in China, pointed out that since the handover of Hong Kong sovereignty in 1997, to the forcible passage of the National Security Law in 2020, and now to the current “Article 23” legislation, Beijing has repeatedly violated its promises and betrayed the people of Hong Kong. .
Pelosi said, “They promised that there would be the Basic Law, one country, two systems, and now there is only betrayal, a complete betrayal of the people of Hong Kong. If the Chinese government is trying to convince others of the effectiveness of the system of one country, two systems, then this is not a very good promise, Because that’s simply not true.”
The review process for the controversial national security legislation for Hong Kong has been surprisingly quick. On January 30 this year, Hong Kong Chief Executive Lee Ka-chiu announced the launch of a one-month public consultation on the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law, which will end on February 28, which is much shorter than the public consultation period when the law was promoted in the past.
On March 8, the Hong Kong government officially gazetted the 23-article “Maintaining National Security Bill” and formally reviewed it in the Legislative Council. Since then, intensive meetings have been held every day to accelerate the process. The bill was passed with 89 unanimous votes on the 19th.
Leaders of the two parties of the U.S. Congressional and Executive Committee on China (CECC) criticized at a press conference that there is now no opposition voice in Hong Kong, whether in the Legislative Council or civil society, showing that the original free system has been completely destroyed.
“This notoriously terrible law will come into effect tomorrow, after just over 50 days of process. In these 50 days, there has been no significant opposition in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government wants people to believe that this is because there is public consensus to pass this law. But this is complete nonsense. It couldn’t be further from the truth,” committee chairman Rep. Chris Smith said at a news conference.
Smith went on to say, “Civil society has been undermined within Hong Kong. Invoking the ‘national security law’ that came into effect in July 2020, Hong Kong authorities have arrested civil society activists, especially those providing assistance to political prisoners, and independent media has collapsed. , because of trumped-up politically motivated criminal charges.”
Smith accused that Hong Kong’s unilateral implementation of the National Security Law in 2020 under Beijing’s instructions was like “pressing a switch, destroying Hong Kong’s democratic system overnight.”
Pelosi also said that the current situation in Hong Kong is deteriorating and has even reached a “terrible state.” “After the Chinese Communist Party’s string of undemocratic actions, they made things worse, and the National Security Law was already bad, and now it’s even worse, almost horrific,” she said.
In addition to charging and prosecuting alleged persons involved in the name of national security and multiple crimes, this legislation also specifically includes a so-called “extraterritorial effect” clause that allows the Hong Kong government and police to pursue those who have not “committed crimes” in Hong Kong. people.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, co-chairman of the CECC and Democratic U.S. Senator from Oregon, said at a press conference that Beijing is crushing Hong Kong’s freedoms through step-by-step actions.
“The provisions that are about to come into effect, as we stand here today, make an already bad situation worse, and China can sue almost any activity they don’t agree with, using state secrets as an excuse, using foreign interference as an excuse, it It erodes the rule of law, it undermines human rights. It extends the long arm of authoritarianism,” Merkley said.
Also present at the press conference were Executive Director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, Kwok Fengyi, Policy and Advocacy Specialist of The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, Hui Ying-ting, and “Hong Kong Parliament” organizing committee member Yuen Kung-yi . Because of their promotion of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong, they are all wanted by the Hong Kong government for their efforts to live overseas.
At the press conference, Kwok Fengyi and Hui Yingting called on Congress to take action as soon as possible and pass relevant legislative measures including the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office Certification Act (Hong Kong Economic Trade Office Certification Act).
The U.S. Congress is currently reviewing the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Accreditation Act. The bill requires the U.S. executive branch to certify whether the three Hong Kong economic and trade offices in Washington, New York and San Francisco are worthy of extending the privileges, exceptions and immunities they currently enjoy within 30 days of the bill taking effect. If the U.S. government certifies that the three Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices should no longer enjoy these diplomatic rights, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices will cease operations within 180 days; conversely, if the U.S. government considers that the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices continue to enjoy these diplomatic rights, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices will be extended One year of operation, or until the next time an assessment is conducted.
The bill has currently passed the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate, but it is not yet clear when the bill will be voted on in the House of Representatives. However, Congressman Smith told reporters after the meeting that the bill had a chance to be voted on in the chamber this week, but was later removed from the agenda. He hopes that the bill will be voted on in the House of Representatives as soon as possible.
Congress will enter a two-week Easter recess next week, and lawmakers are not expected to return to Washington again for deliberations until the second week of April.
