[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 19 (Thursday, February 13, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H568]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE HONG KONG REVERSION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. Bereuter] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, in less than 5 months nearly a century of 
British rule will end and Hong Kong will become a special 
administrative region of China. Nobody knows exactly what will happen 
in Hong Kong on that night or in ensuing months and years. This 
reversion is unprecedented in its complexity.
  Hong Kong, one of the world's most efficient economies, will become 
part of an emerging giant that has yet to integrate itself fully into 
the world economy and the international community and which has only 
begun to experiment with democracy at the village level.
  The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China have largely 
agreed upon the basic rules for Hong Kong's reversion in the Sino-
British Joint Declaration of 1984. For its part, China has agreed to 
grant Hong Kong more autonomy than international law requires.
  In Hong Kong's Constitution, the basic law of 1989, the National 
People's Congress unveiled a one-country, two-system arrangement for 50 
years. During that time, Hong Kong is supposed to enjoy a high degree 
of autonomy, except in the areas of foreign affairs and defense.
  It is rumored that over 7,000 journalists from around the world will 
be on hand at midnight on June 30, 1997, to witness the official 
handover. Presumably those journalists will be there to observe whether 
the transition goes smoothly. Already the press coverage in Hong Kong 
has become intense.
  In large part, the attention focused on Hong Kong by the 
international press has been fueled by misguided or heavy-handed 
efforts by the Chinese Government to disband the current legislative 
council and replace it with the provisional legislature, to alter civil 
rights protections in Hong Kong, and to improperly influence the 
extremely efficient and extraordinarily important civil service of Hong 
Kong.
  Today, with a number of colleagues, I am introducing the Hong Kong 
Reversion Act that will aid Congress in wading through all of the 
important issues and this complex transition by building on the Hong 
Kong Policy Act of 1992. It will require assessments and reports by the 
Secretary of State in very specific areas so that the President can 
determine whether to maintain current United States law and policies 
involving Hong Kong.
  In addition, I am especially pleased to report that a team of 
specialists from the Library of Congress, led by Kerry Dumbaugh, has, 
at my request, just completed an excellent comprehensive report 
entitled ``Hong Kong's Reversion to China: Implications for the United 
States.'' This excellent report will also greatly assist the Congress 
in this important task, so I am allowing the Library of Congress to 
make this report publicly available today.
  Mr. Speaker, this Member invites the cosponsorship and support of 
this legislation by any and all of my colleagues. Original cosponsors 
include the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman], the gentleman from 
Indiana [Mr. Hamilton], the gentleman from California [Mr. Berman], the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon], the gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. 
Barrett], the gentleman from California [Mr. Dreier], the gentleman 
from American Samoa [Mr. Faleomavaega], the gentleman from Illinois 
[Mr. Crane], the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Kolbe], and the gentleman 
from California [Mr. Cox].

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