[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 9, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4714-S4715]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Hong Kong

  Mr. TOOMEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the very high-
stakes political and social crisis that has been unfolding in Hong Kong 
over the past several weeks.
  Hong Kong is a very exceptional city. It boasts of a very robust free 
market economy that has thrived for centuries. It has a very vibrant 
free press. It has an independent judiciary and a partially democratic 
election system. Those freedoms, combined with Hongkongers' natural 
entrepreneurial spirit and appreciation for individual liberty, have 
made Hong Kong a jewel of the financial and business world, one of the 
freest places in Asia, and a great place to live--for a time, anyway, 
as I did back in 1991.
  Economic and political achievements are particularly impressive when 
you consider that Hong Kong is, after all, a part of China, which has 
neither a free economy nor a politically free society.
  Back in 1997, Great Britain transferred Hong Kong to China on a 
condition--an explicit written agreement--that Hong Kong's social and 
economic systems would remain unchanged under a ``one country, two 
systems'' arrangement that would last for at least 50 years, until 
2047.
  The Chinese Government also made a pledge at the time--a pledge that 
Hong Kong's legislative and executive leaders would be elected through 
``universal suffrage.'' Yet, here we are, 22 years later. Hongkongers 
still do not enjoy complete universal suffrage, and Hong Kong has faced 
deep and persistent efforts by the mainland to erode the independence 
and the authority of Hongkongers.
  On the surface, this ongoing crisis in Hong Kong was clearly caused 
by the Hong Kong Government, probably at the behest of the Chinese 
leadership in Beijing to pass a deeply unpopular extradition bill. This 
bill would diminish Hong Kong's independent legal system very 
dramatically, and it would do so by allowing and exposing individuals 
in Hong Kong--including Hong Kong citizens, foreigners, and even 
tourists--to being extradited to China.
  The accused would then face prosecution by an authoritarian 
government in mainland China that does not uphold the rule of law, nor 
does it practice the fair and impartial administration of justice. 
Let's face it. The judicial system in China is politicized and 
controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
  Some people are concerned that if this bill were to become law, it 
would even pave the way for Chinese state-sponsored kidnapping of 
dissidents. It certainly would have a chilling effect on freedom in 
Hong Kong, a chilling effect on the ability of Hong Kong people to live 
their lives and express their views without the fear of political 
repercussions. It is simply a fact that mainland China is a legal black 
hole, and Hong Kong's extradition bill would be a step to exposing Hong 
Kong residents directly to mainland China's opaque and often blatantly 
unfair legal system.
  In response to this threat, the people of Hong Kong have for weeks 
poured into the streets, calling for a withdrawal of this bill and 
deeper democratic reforms. Remarkably, last month, one of these 
protests--one of these demonstrations brought together an estimated 2 
million Hongkongers into the streets. It is stunning anywhere in the 
world that 2 million people would come out to protest anything. But in 
Hong Kong, it is truly staggering because the total population of Hong 
Kong is only 7.4 million. That is about one in four Hongkongers who 
were on the streets protesting.
  Just today, the Hong Kong Chief Executive said that bill was dead. 
But it has not been formally withdrawn, as I understand it, and I think 
the threat remains.
  It is also important to note that on a deeper level these ongoing 
protests are really a response to efforts by the Chinese Government to 
``mainlandize'' Hong Kong. It is an effort in which political, 
cultural, and even physical distinctions between Hong Kong and mainland 
China are meant to be diminished, the differences blurred, and the 
distinction eroded.
  The extradition bill is just the latest example of the Hong Kong 
people's struggle for the freedom, democracy, and respect for human 
rights that they cherish, that they want to hold on to, and that were 
promised to them when the handover occurred in 1997.
  Hongkongers really have a rich history of protest, and I think that 
history reveals their enduring grassroots desire for the freedoms they 
have grown to love and cherish and for a democratic form of government 
that they deserve.
  Back in 1989, the Tiananmen Square massacre that we all remember--the 
30th anniversary was just last month. On the eve of the massacre, once 
it was clear the Chinese Communist Government would respond to peaceful 
protesters with bullets and tanks--once that became clear, about 1.5 
million Hongkongers marched in the streets of Hong Kong in solidarity 
with the students in Tiananmen.
  In 2003, the Hong Kong leadership proposed an anti-subversion bill. 
Hongkongers rightly saw this bill as an attack on their freedom of 
speech and freedom of association. The Hong Kong leadership proposed 
it--again, doing it at the behest of the mainland Chinese Government--
and 500,000 citizens protested and eventually forced the government to 
withdraw the bill.
  In 2014, the Hong Kong Government announced a reform to change how 
Hong Kong's Chief Executive was selected. The proposal was meant to 
continue what already existed, and that was mainland Chinese Communist 
control over the election process in Hong Kong. One of the mechanisms 
they used to achieve this was that only candidates vetted by a 
committee of mostly pro-Beijing supporters would be allowed to seek the 
office of Chief Executive.
  In response to this undemocratic measure, Hong Kong students staged a 
campaign of civil disobedience and peaceful protest to oppose this 
effort. Up to a half a million people participated in the movement. 
Students famously used umbrellas to shield themselves from tear gas and 
pepper spray that was being launched at them by the police, so much so 
that the pro-democracy protesters were quickly termed the ``Umbrella 
Movement.''
  All of these protests and acts of civil disobedience make it clear 
that Hongkongers want more freedom, not less freedom.
  I think this matters. This matters obviously in Hong Kong, but it 
matters

[[Page S4715]]

beyond Hong Kong. It matters to us. It should matter to us. What is 
happening in Hong Kong is not just important for those residents but 
for the rest of the world. Today the people of Hong Kong are fighting 
against an unpopular and unfair extradition bill. They are really 
fighting for a future in which they can enjoy basic human rights, 
natural rights that everyone should have, including the right to free 
speech, the right to a fair trial, the right to be confident that your 
government will follow the laws of the society in which it exists, and 
participation in a just and fair representative system of government.
  If the Chinese officials in Beijing and the Communist Chinese who 
rule mainland China have their way, they will extinguish these rights 
for the people of Hong Kong. If the extradition bill were to become 
law, it would threaten all of those rights because of the chilling 
effect of the threat of being extradited to the lawlessness of the 
Chinese judicial system.
  In some important ways, I think Hong Kong can be seen as a canary in 
a coal mine for Asia. What happens in Hong Kong will at least set 
expectations, create a climate that will maybe affect what happens in 
Taiwan over time, other Asian nations that are struggling for freedom 
in the shadow of China. The fact is, China itself is controlled by an 
authoritarian government, interested primarily in its own survival. 
That is the top priority of Beijing's leadership. They have created a 
modern-day police state. They use mass surveillance, censorship, 
internet applications in order to control their own citizens. They have 
imprisoned over a million of their own citizens, the Muslim Uighur 
minorities, in concentration camps.
  China's authoritarianism threatens free and open societies all around 
the world. A democratic Hong Kong is a direct threat to the Communist 
regime in Beijing because people across China, naturally, ask the 
question: Why do Hongkongers get to have more rights and a better life 
and more freedom than we have? That is the threat the government in 
Beijing is trying to extinguish.
  We, of course, recently had the blessing of being able to celebrate 
our own Independence Day, when Americans reflect on our own struggle 
against tyranny, against an unjust government, and our successful 
effort to throw that off and establish this, the world's greatest, most 
vibrant, and freest democratic society.
  In many ways, the Hongkongers are fighting for some of the very same 
values as our Founding Fathers did during the American Revolution. I 
think it is important that we in the United States not turn a blind eye 
to the struggle for freedom that is happening outside our borders. I 
think it is important that Americans continue to stand in support of 
the voices in Hong Kong calling for freedom, for democracy, and respect 
for basic human rights. I will do what I can in the Senate to support 
the people of Hong Kong in their peaceful protests for their own 
freedom, and I call on my colleagues in this administration to join me.
  I yield the floor.

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