[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 131 (Monday, August 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S11798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  CONGRATULATING MARTIN C.M. LEE ON RECEIVING THE 1995 INTERNATIONAL 
 HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD BY THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION LITIGATION SECTION

 Mr. MACK. Mr. President, tomorrow, in Chicago, the American 
Bar Association's litigation section will present its 1995 
International Human Rights Award to Martin C.M. Lee, the chairman of 
the Democratic Party in Hong Kong. The award is a high honor which Mr. 
Lee has earned for his efforts to win full democracy for the people of 
Hong Kong and to safeguard the rule of law as the territory nears its 
June 30, 1997, reversion to the People's Republic of China. I would 
like to take this opportunity to extend my warmest congratulations to 
Martin Lee and submit for the record an article by former Attorney 
General Dick Thornburgh which appeared on July 30, 1995, in the 
Washington Post.
  The article is called, ``A Blow to Hong Kong's Future.'' The blow 
Dick Thornburgh refers to is the recent agreement by Great Britain and 
the People's Republic of China to set up a new high court for Hong Kong 
according to terms that violate the 1984 Joint Declaration. The terms, 
which include restrictions on jurisdiction and limits on foreign common 
law judges, have dealt a powerful blow to the colony's long tradition 
of judicial independence. Dick Thornburgh's article reports that the 
Hong Kong Government of Chris Patten has criticized the American Bar 
Association for bestowing its award on Mr. Lee. As the article says, 
the Hong Kong Government is disturbed that ``Lee, one of several 
leading lights in the democratic community, has been calling the court 
deal what it is: A sellout.''
  China has made the future of Hong Kong's democrats painfully clear by 
announcing its intention to abolish Hong Kong's Legislative Council 
[Legco], abrogate the bill of rights ordinance, and destroy the rule of 
law. Over the next 2 years, we Americans must stand with Martin Lee and 
his fellow democrats as they stand up for the future, and autonomy they 
were promised.
  I ask that the article be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:
               [From the Washington Post, July 30, 1995]

                      A Blow to Hong Kong's Future

                          (By Dick Thornburgh)

       What government recently denounced an organization that was 
     planning to bestow an international human rights award on its 
     most prominent democrat? No, not Burma. Not Nigeria. It was 
     the British government of Hong Kong, which, although not yet 
     in its final days, is conducting a fire sale of the 
     protections that the rule of law built up over a century.
       This month the American Bar Association's litigation 
     section announced it would award Martin Lee, chairman of the 
     Democratic Party of Hong Kong, its 1995 International Human 
     Rights Award at its meeting in Chicago on August 8. A top 
     Hong Kong government official promptly denounced the ABA, and 
     continued the Hong Kong government's mounting attacks on Lee 
     himself.
       The Hong Kong government of Chris Patten has reason to be 
     alarmed by the ABA award. It will bring Martin Lee and his 
     criticisms of Great Britain's double-cross of Hong Kong to 
     the attention not only of the ABA's approximately 350,000 
     members but to all Americans distressed by China's arrest of 
     American activist Harry Wu, and the PRC's long record of 
     human rights abuses.
       Less than two years from now, Hong Kong will be transferred 
     to the PRC under the terms of the Sino-British Joint 
     Declaration. Under that 1984 agreement, both Great Britain 
     and China pledged Hong Kong would thrive under an arrangement 
     Deng Xiaoping called ``one country, two systems.'' Since 
     then, however, China has reneged on virtually every one of 
     its commitments, pledging to abolish the Legislative Council 
     (Legco) and abrogate the bill of rights ordinance, and 
     seeking to destroy the rule of law. The British Hong Kong 
     government has stood by and done nothing.
       In early June, the Hong Kong government signaled its final 
     retreat. British and PRC negotiators cut a deal on the Court 
     of Final Appeal, the new court needed to replace London's 
     Privy Council as Hong Kong's high court. The deal violates 
     the Joint Declaration in a number of respects, including 
     restricting the number of foreign common law judges on the 
     bench. Such judges have contributed to Hong Kong's highly 
     regarded judiciary, and they will be crucial to the court's 
     ability to resist PRC interference.
       The deal also injects the future Beijing-appointed chief 
     executive into the judicial selection process, another break 
     with tradition. Most important, the British capitulated to 
     Beijing on the court's jurisdiction. The court may not rule 
     on acts of state ``such as'' defense and foreign affairs. 
     These two words, to be interpreted by a party organ in 
     Beijing, could prevent the court from hearing virtually 
     anything Beijing chooses, including challenges to state 
     power.
       Finally, British and the PRC agreed not to set up the court 
     until July 1, 1997, despite previous agreement to get it up 
     and running much earlier. British appointees and pro-China 
     members approved legislation establishing the court as 
     proposed on July 26.
       So why is the Hong Kong government so worked up over the 
     award to Lee? Lee, one of several leading lights in Hong 
     Kong's democratic community, has been calling the court deal 
     what is a sellout. After building up a successful law 
     practice and chairing the Hong Kong Bar Association, he 
     entered politics in 1985, becoming the legal community's 
     first representative in Legco through the government's 
     byzantine ``functional constituencies'' system. These Legco 
     members are chosen by tiny franchises representing business 
     and professional groups such as real estate developers and 
     bankers.
       In Hong Kong's first-ever democratic elections in 1991, Lee 
     won the most votes of any candidate, while pro-democracy 
     candidates overall took 17 of 18 democratically selected 
     seats. Lee, his Democratic Party and independent democrats 
     are expected to outpoll pro-China candidates for the 20 seats 
     open in elections this Sept. 17, the last elections before 
     the PRC takeover. (The increase in democratic seats from 18 
     to 20 was the centerpiece of Patten's highly touted 1994 
     reform package.) China has pledged to abolish Legco, and 
     recently announced that it will set up a parallel, appointed 
     legislature well before 1997.
       Beijing already had its sights on Lee--having ejected him 
     from a committee to draft Hong Kong's so-called ``mini-
     constitution'' for supporting the demonstrators at Tianamen 
     Square. Lee is a thorn in Governor Patten's side. And he will 
     be a thorn in China's side. Unless something changes, we can 
     all look forward to the time, a few years on, when Beijing in 
     turn denounces an organization for bestowing a human rights 
     award on Martin Lee.
     

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