[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 101 (Monday, June 1, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S2624]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CORONAVIRUS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, these 
events only compound what has already been a historically challenging 
time for our country.
  As our Nation continues to combat and contain the coronavirus, the 
Senate will continue to lead the response. To name one example, I hope 
and anticipate the Senate will soon take up and pass legislation that 
just passed the House by an overwhelming vote of 417 to 1 to further 
strengthen the Paycheck Protection Program so it continues working for 
small businesses that need our help.
  Even as we fight the pandemic, we will remember that other challenges 
face our Nation as well. Foreign adversaries are all too eager to 
exploit a distracted world.
  In recent days, agents of the Chinese Communist Party have taken to 
social media to openly taunt--openly taunt--the United States and 
defend their violent crackdown on the autonomy of Hong Kong.
  It has been almost a year since the world watched Hongkongers embark 
on the latest round of peaceful demonstrations against the repressive 
grip of the Chinese Communist Party. The world watched as Hong Kong 
voters, with American flags in hand, dealt crushing defeats to 
Beijing's preferred puppet candidates in elections last fall. But in 
recent weeks, as the coronavirus pandemic that China exacerbated has 
dominated the world's attention, the Chinese Communist Party is trying 
yet again to tighten their grip. New laws--supposedly related to 
national security--aim to stifle dissent and curtail Hongkongers' civil 
liberties.
  When I authored the U.S.-Hong Kong Policy Act way back in 1992, we 
wanted to ensure future Chinese regimes would respect the promises made 
regarding this unique, autonomous region, so we made sure the weight 
and suasion of the United States of America would stand with 
Hongkongers if need be.

  Unfortunately, these years later, such a time is upon us. Among other 
examples, we received word today that for the first time in 30 years--
30 years--authorities in Hong Kong will not allow the annual 
candlelight vigil that commemorates the Tiananmen Square massacre to 
occur. For the first time in 30 years, no commemoration of the 
Tiananmen massacre will occur in Hong Kong. For three decades, Hong 
Kong has been the only place in China where full-scale remembrances of 
the massacre are permitted, but now they, too, will be going dark.
  So I am encouraged that Secretary Pompeo is tapping into that law to 
formally certify that Beijing's systemic efforts to interfere in Hong 
Kong have eroded the region's autonomy. I might say this is exactly 
what we were concerned about back in 1992 when the Hong Kong Policy Act 
was introduced by me and became law--exactly what we feared.
  I hope that the administration will soon identify the specific ways 
it will impose costs on Beijing and, just as important, continue 
American support for the people of Hong Kong. Under my original 
legislation, several tools are available. Their primary aim is to be an 
effective friend and partner for Hongkongers who share values of 
democracy and freedom and to help preserve the region's unique 
character, autonomy, and prosperity.
  Our Nation's commitment to those efforts must remain ironclad, and it 
must be 100 percent clear that the responsibility for threatening Hong 
Kong's economic, political, and social climate rests solely and 
squarely on the Chinese Communist Party--the regime that views free 
thought as a fundamental evil; the regime that sees peaceful 
demonstrations as an existential challenge. That is who is to blame for 
this, no matter what the Communist Party's two-bit propaganda is trying 
to claim--not the people of Hong Kong, not their friends in the United 
States, just the would-be tyrants in Beijing.
  Last year, as Congress passed Senator Rubio's update to my Hong Kong 
Policy Act, I also secured additional funding to provide legal 
protections to Hong Kong protestors and support democracy promotion 
activities. But if China moves in the coming days and weeks to 
implement its draconian new laws that strangle Hong Kong, there will be 
no rule of law left for protesters to appeal to. That is why the U.S. 
response should mirror those of other democracies that open their doors 
to Hongkongers fleeing oppression. Our Nation has a rich heritage of 
standing as a beacon of light and freedom, from refugees of war to 
those escaping the Iron Curtain. We should exercise it again for the 
people of Hong Kong.
  Finally, while we address these latest aggressions, we must not miss 
the broader lessons. The Communist Party of China does not play by the 
rules. They don't--not the rules of the international economy; not the 
rules of its bilateral agreements with other nations; not even its own 
rules, which are increasingly subject to the whims of President Xi.
  Whether they are cracking down on Hong Kong, trying to cover up a 
pandemic, or herding ethnic and religious minorities into modern-day 
gulags, this generation of Chinese leadership is telling the rest of 
the world every single day exactly who they are--exactly who they are.
  America and the world have watched China deepen its tyranny at home, 
assert its hegemony abroad, and undermine basic norms that protect the 
peace. The question before us is, What will we do to stop it?

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