Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SR98 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	III
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. RES. 98
5	5	Condemning Beijing’s destruction of Hong Kong’s democracy and rule of
6	6	law.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY26, 2025
9	9	Mr. R
10	10	ISCH(for himself and Mrs. SHAHEEN) submitted the following
11	11	resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
12	12	RESOLUTION
13	13	Condemning Beijing’s destruction of Hong Kong’s democracy
14	14	and rule of law.
15	15	Whereas, in 1997, Great Britain handed Hong Kong over to
16	16	Chinese rule under guarantees that Hong Kong would be-
17	17	come a Special Administrative Region under the ‘‘one
18	18	country, two systems’’ principle, pursuant to which Hong
19	19	Kong’s Basic Law would apply and would enshrine ‘‘fun-
20	20	damental rights’’ of Hong Kong residents and a political
21	21	structure, including an independent judiciary, the right to
22	22	vote, and freedoms of assembly and speech, among oth-
23	23	ers;
24	24	Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China
25	25	(PRC) has repeatedly undermined Hong Kong’s auton-
26	26	omy since the 1997 handover, including actions which re-
27	27	sulted in political protests in Hong Kong, including the
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30	30	•SRES 98 IS
31	31	2014 Umbrella Movement protesting Beijing’s attempt to
32	32	reform Hong Kong’s electoral system, and the 2019–
33	33	2020 protests, which opposed the Hong Kong govern-
34	34	ment’s decision to implement an extradition law that
35	35	would have subjected Hong Kongers to prosecution in
36	36	mainland China;
37	37	Whereas the Hong Kong Police Force used excessive force to
38	38	try to quell the 2019–2020 protestors, many of whom
39	39	were under the age of 30;
40	40	Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China
41	41	responded to these protests by passing and implementing
42	42	the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safe-
43	43	guarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special
44	44	Administrative Region (commonly referred to as the
45	45	‘‘Hong Kong national security law’’) a poorly defined
46	46	criminal statute with extraterritorial reach that includes
47	47	overly broad charges to punish people for exercising their
48	48	fundamental rights and freedoms;
49	49	Whereas, since its enactment in June 2020, this law has been
50	50	used by the Government of the People’s Republic of
51	51	China as a pretext to crack down on legitimate and
52	52	peaceful expression, including the exercise of freedoms of
53	53	assembly, speech, and religious belief guaranteed to Hong
54	54	Kong under the Basic Law, to replace the Hong Kong
55	55	legislature with individuals loyal to the Chinese Com-
56	56	munist Party, and to pass new immigration laws that
57	57	subject Hong Kong citizens and residents, as well as
58	58	PRC nationals and foreign nationals, to exit bans in
59	59	Hong Kong similar to those implemented in mainland
60	60	China;
61	61	Whereas, in March 2024, the Hong Kong government en-
62	62	acted national security legislation to implement Article 23
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65	65	•SRES 98 IS
66	66	of the Basic Law, officially called the ‘‘Safeguarding Na-
67	67	tional Security Ordinance’’ and also referred to as the
68	68	‘‘Article 23 Ordinance’’, which expanded the number of
69	69	broadly defined national security criminal offenses to in-
70	70	clude, among other things, ‘‘external interference’’ and
71	71	‘‘sabotage’’, weakened legal protections for suspects ac-
72	72	cused of national security offenses, authorized new puni-
73	73	tive measures targeting Hong Kong citizens and non-citi-
74	74	zens overseas, and created risks for Hong Kong residents
75	75	who interact with foreigners;
76	76	Whereas nearly 300 people have been arrested under the
77	77	Hong Kong national security law and the Article 23 Or-
78	78	dinance;
79	79	Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China
80	80	uses the Hong Kong national security law and the Article
81	81	23 Ordinance to harass, target, and threaten non-Hong
82	82	Kong citizens and those outside of Hong Kong, and has
83	83	become a significant perpetrator of transnational repres-
84	84	sion, including by posting cash bounties for democracy
85	85	activists living in self-exile outside of Hong Kong;
86	86	Whereas, on November 19, 2024, the Hong Kong government
87	87	sentenced a group of pro-democracy activists, journalists,
88	88	and former lawmakers commonly known as the ‘‘Hong
89	89	Kong 47’’ to jail terms ranging between 4 and 10 years
90	90	as a demonstration of the Hong Kong government’s will-
91	91	ingness to intimidate and persecute its political oppo-
92	92	nents;
93	93	Whereas, Mr. Jimmy Lai, a 77-year-old Hong Kong pro-de-
94	94	mocracy advocate and media entrepreneur, has been tar-
95	95	geted and persecuted for decades, most recently through
96	96	multiple prosecutions, including related to exercising his
97	97	rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of
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100	100	•SRES 98 IS
101	101	expression, his sentencing to over five years in prison
102	102	under politically motivated fraud charges and the seizure
103	103	of his multimillion dollar independent media organization
104	104	Apple Daily by the Hong Kong authorities;
105	105	Whereas, Mr. Lai, one of the highest profile cases under the
106	106	2020 ‘‘national security law’’, has been imprisoned in sol-
107	107	itary confinement with inadequate medical treatment
108	108	since December 31, 2020;
109	109	Whereas 5 Special Rapporteurs, as well as the United Na-
110	110	tions Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbi-
111	111	trary Detention, have found that Mr. Lai is unlawfully
112	112	and arbitrarily detained and have called for his imme-
113	113	diate and unconditional release;
114	114	Whereas the trial of Mr. Lai, which began on December 18,
115	115	2023, has been delayed repeatedly;
116	116	Whereas international legal experts at the United Nations
117	117	have expressed concerns regarding prosecutors’ use of
118	118	witness testimony against Mr. Lai that may have been
119	119	obtained through torture, Hong Kong authorities’ inter-
120	120	ference with the independence of the judiciary throughout
121	121	the case, and harassment and intimidation of Mr. Lai’s
122	122	lawyers, undermining his right to a defense;
123	123	Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China’s
124	124	undermining of democracy in Hong Kong has ramifica-
125	125	tions for the international order, including with regard to
126	126	the future of Taiwan;
127	127	Whereas the Hong Kong government has conducted a public
128	128	relations campaign to convince global business leaders
129	129	that Hong Kong remains a critical and attractive inter-
130	130	national financial center, while simultaneously under-
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133	133	•SRES 98 IS
134	134	mining the independence of institutions that encouraged
135	135	its growth over the past several decades;
136	136	Whereas Hong Kong has increasingly become a hub for the
137	137	transshipment of export-controlled goods and sanctions
138	138	evasion relating to the People’s Republic of China, the
139	139	Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Russian Fed-
140	140	eration, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, directly sup-
141	141	porting Russia’s defense industrial base and enabling its
142	142	continuing war of aggression against Ukraine;
143	143	Whereas Hong Kong still maintains a separate voting share
144	144	from the People’s Republic of China at many multilateral
145	145	organizations—including the Asia Pacific Economic Co-
146	146	operation forum, the Financial Action Task Force, the
147	147	International Olympic Committee, and the World Trade
148	148	Organization—effectively doubling the People’s Republic
149	149	of China’s voting power at these critical institutions; and
150	150	Whereas the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act
151	151	(Public Law 116–76; 22 U.S.C. 5701 note), signed into
152	152	law in November 2019, requires the President to impose
153	153	sanctions to promote accountability for those responsible
154	154	for certain conduct that undermines fundamental free-
155	155	doms and autonomy in Hong Kong: Now, therefore, be
156	156	it
157	157	Resolved, That the Senate— 1
158	158	(1) condemns the Government of the People’s 2
159	159	Republic of China’s ‘‘Hong Kong national security 3
160	160	law’’, the Hong Kong government’s ‘‘Safeguarding 4
161	161	National Security Ordinance’’, and related abuses of 5
162	162	internationally recognized human rights; 6
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165	165	•SRES 98 IS
166	166	(2) urges all governments that value democracy 1
167	167	or autonomy to hold the Chinese Communist Party 2
168	168	and the Hong Kong authorities accountable for their 3
169	169	destruction of Hong Kong’s autonomy, rule of law, 4
170	170	and freedoms; 5
171	171	(3) supports the people of Hong Kong as they 6
172	172	fight to exercise fundamental rights and freedoms, 7
173	173	as enumerated by— 8
174	174	(A) the Joint Declaration of the Govern-9
175	175	ment of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 10
176	176	and Northern Ireland and the Government of 11
177	177	the People’s Republic of China on the Question 12
178	178	of Hong Kong, done at Beijing December 19, 13
179	179	1984; 14
180	180	(B) the International Covenant on Civil 15
181	181	and Political Rights, done at New York Decem-16
182	182	ber 19, 1966; and 17
183	183	(C) the Universal Declaration of Human 18
184	184	Rights, done at Paris December 10, 1948; 19
185	185	(4) condemns the Government of the People’s 20
186	186	Republic of China’s practice of bringing false and 21
187	187	politically motivated charges against Hong Kongers 22
188	188	and the expansion of Hong Kong’s national security 23
189	189	regime that destroys the rule of law and undermines 24
190	190	citizens’ rights in Hong Kong; 25
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193	193	•SRES 98 IS
194	194	(5) calls upon the Hong Kong government to 1
195	195	immediately drop all sedition, national security law, 2
196	196	and Article 23-related charges and free all defend-3
197	197	ants immediately, including Jimmy Lai; 4
198	198	(6) expresses extreme concern about the Gov-5
199	199	ernment of the People’s Republic of China’ state-di-6
200	200	rected theft of Apple Daily, and holds that Hong 7
201	201	Kong no longer has credibility as an international 8
202	202	business center due to the erosion of the regulatory, 9
203	203	legal, and judicial environments that have promoted 10
204	204	its economic growth for decades; 11
205	205	(7) encourages the United States Government 12
206	206	and other governments to take steps at multilateral 13
207	207	institutions to ensure that voting procedures recog-14
208	208	nize that there is no longer a meaningful distinction 15
209	209	between Hong Kong and mainland China; and 16
210	210	(8) urges the United States Government to use 17
211	211	all available and appropriate tools, including those 18
212	212	authorized by the Hong Kong Human Rights and 19
213	213	Democracy Act, in response to the Government of 20
214	214	the People’s Republic of China’s actions in Hong 21
215	215	Kong. 22
216	216	Æ
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