[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S18926-S18927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       WHAT MAKES HONG KONG TICK

  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, one of the impressive leaders in 
our world is a legislator little known by most Americans. He is Martin 
C.M. Lee, who has led the forces for democracy in Hong Kong and has 
courageously stood up for freedom and democracy and human rights in 
Hong Kong.
  He does that in the face of a Chinese takeover of Hong Kong that is 
slated in 1\1/2\ years from now.
  Recently, he had an op-ed piece in the Washington Post that I hope 
the leaders of China will see.
  On the possibility that more Chinese leaders will see it, I ask that 
it be printed in full in the Record. I hope that all the Members of the 
Senate and House and their staffs will read it also to help prepare 
them for what may happen come 1997.
  The article follows:

                       What Makes Hong Kong Tick

                          (By Martin C.M. Lee)

       Hong Kong.--On June 30, 1997, Hong Kong and its 6 million 
     free citizens will become part of the People's Republic of 
     China. As the countdown to 1997 advances, the people of Hong 
     Kong should be hearing reassurances from China that we will 
     be able to keep our freedoms and way of life. Instead, each 
     day brings a new threat.
       The latest has thrown Hong Kong into turmoil, both for the 
     harm it will do to human rights and for the message it sends 
     about China's plans for the future. In October China proposed 
     scrapping key sections of Hong Kong's Bill of Rights and 
     reinstating a number of repressive colonial laws that had 
     been removed from the statute books because they violated the 
     Bill of Rights.
       On Nov. 15, Hong Kong's legislature fought back. The 
     Legislative Council--elected in September with a surprise 
     majority for democrats--passed, by a decisive 40-15 vote, a 
     historic motion to condemn China's efforts to end human 
     rights protection in Hong Kong.
       That motion drew a line in the sand over human rights 
     here--and even had the support of a large number of pro-
     Beijing legislators. Even before the motion was debated, 
     Chinese officials had declared that Hong Kong's legislature 
     had no right to discuss the topic of the Bill of Rights. By 
     defying Beijing, Hong Kong's people sent the message that our 
     rights and freedoms will not be given up without a fight.
       The Bill of Rights was enacted in 1991 as a confidence-
     building measure to allay fears raised by the Tiananmen 
     Square massacre of 1989. Thus it is not surprising that 
     China's pledge to emasculate the Bill of Rights is having a 
     devastating effect on future confidence in the rule of law.
       The Bill of Rights--known in Chinese as Yan Kyun Faat, the 
     Human Rights Law--puts into domestic law the International 
     Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, under which countries 
     agree to a minimum standard of behavior toward their 
     citizens. Britain and more than 80 countries worldwide have 
     signed the covenant. China, however, has not. Beijing, in 
     fact, sees the Bill of Rights as part of a conspiracy by 
     ``international anti-Chinese forces and the agents of the 
     British side,'' according to its own New China News Agency.
       The core problems is that China does not understand what 
     makes Hong Kong tick. The People's Republic of China is an 
     authoritarian Communist state. Hong Kong has always been a 
     sanctuary from China, where the rule of law held sway and 
     Hong Kong Chinese people were given economic and civil 
     freedoms to make Hong Kong's the most successful economy in 
     Southeast Asia.
       In the past decade, the world has witnessed countless 
     examples of authoritarian regimes changing into free 
     societies--from Eastern Europe to Asia. Regionally, South 
     Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines have all 
     progressed from authoritarian to representative governments, 
     and other Asian countries are moving steadily in that 
     direction. But the world has no recent experience of a 
     vibrant, cosmopolitan and extremely free society losing basic 
     freedoms.
       Hong Kong today has all the attributes of a pluralistic 
     civil society; a robust press, clean and accountable 
     government and a rule of law superior to any legal system in 
     Asia. The proposal to scrap Hong Kong's Bill of Rights is the 
     clearest indication yet that Beijing is trying to remake Hong 
     Kong in China's image. Because China has been successful in 
     luring international investment without improving human 
     rights, Beijing may now believe it can sustain Hong Kong's 
     economic success while clamping down on civil rights and 
     freedoms.
       In 1997, China is set to control all three branches of Hong 
     Kong's government. Beijing says elected legislators will be 
     turned out of office and replaced with a rubber-stamp 
     appointed legislature. Hong Kong's top official, the chief 
     executive, and his cabinet will all be appointed by Beijing. 
     And China has ensured control of the Court of Final Appeal, 
     Hong Kong's highest court, which will not be set up until 
     after the transfer of sovereignty in 1997. Thus all three 
     branches of government are slated to be under China's 
     control.
       This is why the people of Hong Kong regard saving our Bill 
     of Rights as our last-ditch battle. Just as the Bill of 
     Rights is an important check on abuse of power by the British 
     government today, so will it be an essential check on 
     arbitrary use of power by China after 1997.
       At least one senior Chinese leader clearly understands the 
     value and fragility of Hong Kong's system. Last March the 
     chairman of the powerful Chinese People's Political 
     Consultative Committee, Li Ruihuan, admitted errors in 
     China's hard-line policy toward Hong Kong and appealed to his 
     fellow leaders to handle Hong Kong with greater care in the 
     future.
       In a public speech, he used the metaphor of an old woman 
     selling a valuable antique 

[[Page S18927]]
     Yixing teapot. Tea drinkers know that the real value of the Chinese 
     teapot lies in the residue of tea leaves that lines the 
     interior of the old pot. Through ignorance however, the old 
     woman scrubbed the teapot free of the stain, thereby 
     destroying its worth entirely.
       Mr. Li paraphrased the common-sense adage, ``if it ain't 
     broke, don't fix it,'' pointing out, ``If you don't 
     understand how a valuable item works, you will never be able 
     to keep it intact for a long time.''
       If, as it now appears, Chinese leaders do not understand 
     how freedom, human rights and the rule of law have laid the 
     foundation of Hong Kong's success, Beijing may scrub them 
     out--and destroy forever the value of Hong Kong, now and in 
     the future.

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