[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 14 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. J. RES. 14

              Expressing support for freedom in Hong Kong.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 27, 2003

 Mr. Brownback (for himself and Mr. Kyl) introduced the following joint 
   resolution; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                           Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
              Expressing support for freedom in Hong Kong.

Whereas Hong Kong has long been the freest economy in the world, renowned for 
        its rule of law and its zealous protection of civil rights and civil 
        liberties;
Whereas the Agreement between 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 
        (the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984) explicitly guarantees that 
        all of Hong Kong's freedoms, including freedom of the press, religious 
        freedom, and freedom of association, will continue for at least 50 years 
        after the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty from the United Kingdom to 
        the People's Republic of China on July 1, 1997;
Whereas in the 6 years since the transfer of the territory, the citizens of Hong 
        Kong have enjoyed a certain degree of individual liberty, religious 
        freedom, freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which keep it both 
        politically vibrant and stable;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has increasingly interfered in Hong 
        Kong's independent judiciary, intimidated the media to induce self-
        censorship, and excluded visitors who disagree with the policies of the 
        Chinese Communist Party;
Whereas the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 
        encouraged by the Government of the People's Republic of China, has 
        eroded Hong Kong's political independence, international prestige, and 
        appeal as a business and financial hub of Asia;
Whereas the freedoms cherished by the people of Hong Kong serve as a constant 
        reminder to the world and to the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China that such freedoms could, but do not, prevail on mainland China;
Whereas the traditional liberties of Hong Kong's 7,000,000 people are now 
        immediately threatened by a new national security bill proposed by the 
        SAR Government that would revise Hong Kong's laws regarding sedition, 
        treason, subversion, and theft of state secrets;
Whereas the national security bill, as now drafted, is vague and overly broad in 
        its definitions of subversion, sedition, and official secrets, weakens 
        existing due process protections in the Societies Ordinance, and gives 
        dangerous new powers to the police to make searches without warrant;
Whereas the proposed legislation would give the Hong Kong SAR Secretary for 
        Security, an appointee of the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China, broad authority to ban organizations not approved by Beijing, 
        thereby threatening religious organizations such as the Falun Gong and 
        the Roman Catholic Church;
Whereas, under the proposed legislation, such basic and fundamental procedural 
        rights as notice and opportunity to be heard could be waived by the 
        Secretary for Security if honoring these rights ``would not be 
        practicable'';
Whereas the proposed legislation provides for the imprisonment of individuals 
        accused of ``unauthorized disclosure of protected information,'' making 
        it possible for the Hong Kong SAR Government to prosecute members of the 
        news media for publishing any information relevant to relations between 
        the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong;
Whereas similar subversion laws in the People's Republic of China are regularly 
        used to convict and imprison journalists, labor activists, Internet 
        entrepreneurs, and academics;
Whereas the members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council who have been elected by 
        universal suffrage oppose the proposed legislation, but are powerless as 
        a minority to block the votes controlled directly and indirectly by the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China;
Whereas the clear majority of people in Hong Kong have expressed strong concerns 
        about, and opposition to, the proposed legislation;
Whereas the scheduled consideration of these proposals to restrict Hong Kong's 
        freedoms in the Legislative Council on July 9, 2003, makes the threat to 
        the people of Hong Kong clear and imminent; and
Whereas the United States has consistently supported the desire of the people of 
        Hong Kong to be free, and, as Congress declared in the United States-
        Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (22 U.S.C. 5701 et seq.): ``The human 
        rights of the people of Hong Kong are of great importance to the United 
        States and are directly relevant to United States interests in Hong 
        Kong. Human rights also serve as a basis for Hong Kong's continued 
        economic prosperity'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress--
            (1) declares that restrictions on freedom of thought, 
        expression, and association in Hong Kong are limits on the 
        fundamental rights of the people of Hong Kong;
            (2) declares that the national security bill would 
        undermine freedom of the press and access to information, both 
        of which are fundamentally important to the economic and 
        commercial success of Hong Kong;
            (3) calls upon the SAR Government to--
                    (A) avoid implementing any law that restricts the 
                basic human freedoms of thought and expression, 
                including the proposed implementation of Article 23 of 
                the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative 
                Region of the People's Republic of China (the Basic 
                Law); and
                    (B) immediately schedule and conduct elections for 
                the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong SAR according 
                to rules approved by the people of Hong Kong through an 
                election law convention, by referendum, or both; and
            (4) calls upon the President of the United States to--
                    (A) urge the Government of Hong Kong, including 
                Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa and the 
                Legislative Council, not to implement any law, 
                including any law established pursuant to the proposed 
                implementation of Article 23 of the Basic Law, that 
                restricts the basic human right to freedom of thought 
                and expression;
                    (B) call upon the People's Republic of China, the 
                National People's Congress, and any groups appointed by 
                the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
                leave all revisions of Hong Kong law to a 
                democratically-elected legislature;
                    (C) call upon the Government of the People's 
                Republic of China to fully respect the autonomy and 
                independence of the Independent Commission Against 
                Corruption and the chief executive, civil service, 
                judiciary, and police of Hong Kong;
                    (D) declare that the continued lack of an elected 
                legislature in Hong Kong constitutes a violation of the 
                Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984; and
                    (E) call upon the Government of the People's 
                Republic of China to honor its treaty obligations under 
                the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984.

                                 <all>