Rebuking China, Senate moves to protect Hong Kong autonomy
WASHINGTON — In a bipartisan rebuke of China, the Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a bill to impose sanctions on business and individuals — including the police — that undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy or restrict freedoms promised to Hong Kong residents.
The bill targets police units that have cracked down on Hong Kong protesters, as well as Chinese Communist Party officials responsible for imposing a strict “national security” law on Hong Kong, which is considered a special administrative region within China and maintains its own governing and economic systems. The measure also would impose sanctions on banks that do business with entities found to violate the law.
The measure, sponsored by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, comes as tensions over Hong Kong have increased over the past year as China has cracked down on protesters and sought to exert more control over the former British territory.
President Donald Trump has said the administration will begin eliminating the “full range” of agreements that has given Hong Kong a relationship with the U.S. that mainland China lacked, including exemptions from controls on certain exports. He said the State Department would begin warning U.S. citizens of the threat of surveillance and arrest when visiting the city.
“Today, the Senate stood up to the communist regime in Beijing and stood with the people of Hong Kong,” Toomey said. “The mandatory sanctions established in this bill will punish those in China who seek to undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy or erode the basic freedoms promised” to Hong Kong residents under its “one country, two systems” concept.
Van Hollen said the bill takes “meaningful action to hold China and its proxies to account for their ongoing efforts to extinguish liberty and democracy in Hong Kong.”
The legislation “sends a strong, bipartisan message that the United States stands with the people of Hong Kong,” he added.
The Senate vote came a week after one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., blocked it at the request of the White House. Several technical changes involving possible Treasury Department sanctions improved the bill and made it more likely to win White House approval, Cramer said Thursday.
“I am grateful my colleagues and the Treasury Department were able to work together to improve the bill, bettering its chances of becoming law,” he said after the vote. “It affirms our support for the people of Hong Kong who are fighting for their freedom. I urge the House to take it up and send it to the president’s desk.”