[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 193 (Wednesday, December 4, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6829-S6830]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Hong Kong

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on Sunday, as we Americans savored the 
holiday weekend and gave thanks for our liberty, the people of Hong 
Kong took to the streets to demand their own. Many waved American 
flags.
  Hongkongers are continuing to speak up for the freedoms and the 
autonomy that Beijing has slowly tried to erode. As long as Beijing 
does not relent, it looks like the people of Hong Kong are not going to 
relent either. In local elections last week that were largely symbolic, 
pro-democracy candidates literally blew away the candidates the Chinese 
Communist Party would have preferred in a literal landslide. Not even 
Beijing's propagandists can credibly blame this massive display of 
popular revulsion at their authoritarianism on the ``black hand'' of 
the West. In spite of China's propaganda, the West should not stay 
silent as Beijing sneaks to snuff out dissent in Hong Kong.
  Just a few days prior, the Congress and President Trump had sent our 
clearest signal yet that, yes, the United States of America stands with 
Hong Kong. The Senate unanimously passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and 
Democracy Act, and the President signed it into law. It delivered 
important updates to the original U.S.-Hong Kong Policy Act, which I 
authored back in 1992. Preserving freedom and promoting democracy has 
required constant vigilance with Hongkongers since Communist China 
assumed control of the region.
  I have been proud to stand with that effort. With my original 
legislation, we paved the way for cooperation between Hong Kong and the 
United States, codifying and strengthening economic ties and 
facilitating the robust exchange of ideas and support of greater 
democracy in the autonomous region. We have laid the foundation for a 
U.S.-Hong Kong relationship that has strengthened both their society 
and ours and created leverage to hold Beijing accountable.
  Back in 1992, I observed that democracy was ``finally gaining a 
tenuous foothold in Hong Kong.'' Recent months certainly have reminded 
us just how tenuous that foothold can be when an authoritarian country 
flexes its muscles. They reminded us just how intent Beijing remains on 
exporting its oppressive surveillance state not just within mainland 
China but also into Hong Kong and, frankly, all around the world.

[[Page S6830]]

  The unanimous Senate vote for expanded oversight and firm responses 
to Beijing was welcomed news on the streets of Hong Kong, not because 
the U.S. Senate or international nonprofits or anybody else is ginning 
up these protests, as Beijing wants people to believe, but because 
those speaking out for freedom recognize a friend of freedom when they 
see one.
  It has been funny to see how invested Beijing is in these conspiracy 
theories that this organic protest movement is actually the work of 
shadowy puppeteers. Just a few days ago, the Chinese Communist Party's 
Foreign Ministry took the panicked and laughable step of 
``sanctioning'' several American nonprofits and NGOs, such as the 
International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, 
and the National Endowment for Democracy. Like I said, it is laughable. 
I admire the heck out of these organizations, but they aren't exactly 
in the business of commanding millions of people from Hong Kong to 
Beirut, to Baghdad, to Tehran to take to the streets. They are not that 
good.
  Here is the business they are in: speaking up for the timeless and 
universal principles of basic human freedom. They help keep the torch 
lit. It is the brave souls around the world who want better lives for 
themselves and their children who pick up the ball and run with it for 
themselves.
  The junior varsity tantrum that Beijing is throwing against these 
U.S.-based organizations is literally comical. It puts the Communist 
Party's hypersensitivity on full display. It is the same flailing that 
we see from other regimes from Moscow to Tehran, driven by the same 
aggressive, authoritarian instincts that push social media propaganda, 
street corner surveillance, police violence, and the modern-day gulags 
where China is imprisoning and brutalizing the Uighur people. These are 
the forces history never judges kindly. I am proud of the people of 
Hong Kong. I am proud of the Senate's latest action to support them, 
and I am proud to continue standing alongside them in their journey to 
true self-determination.