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Hong Kong remains in the cross hairs of key U.S. policy makers. More specifically, efforts to target, interrogate, and challenge the development and application of the Hong Kong National Security Law continue to serve the interests of key U.S: officials and their supporters. The reasons are obvious. First it serves as a critical point of differentiation between Marxist-Leninist and liberal democratic structures for disciplining legitimate political engagement. Liberal democracy has been focusing on insurrection and the legitimacy of election processes and the officials who manage it. Marxist Leninist sensibilities continue to focus on the critical distinctions between patriots and others, the line between which is the essence of the People's Democratic dictatorship, and its disciplinary apparatus is the National Security Law. Second, it provides a means of refining the essence of the liberal democratic system of operative principles, grounded in individual privilege and the expression of opinion, but in a context in which hierarchies of influence (the marketplace of ideas) and the influence of private political faction serve as the key disciplinary role.Third, it continues the development of the targeted sanctions based approach to conflict management that has apparently won enough acceptance within influential circles so that the political cost of that means of that conflict tactic is smaller than its cost in terms of the net negative effects. In this sense it serves as a quite important weapon crafted to suit the personal needs of the administrators--on both sides of the conflict.
Recently the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) sought to develop additional measures to ensure that the U.S reduces the risk that it might be facilitating the development of a political model incompatible with its own in a space that the U.S. has long asserted is to some extent (and for the moment) internationalized (on the U.S. position as it developed after June 2019 here). Their Press Release elaborated objectives and rationale:
Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China, released today a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking that he impose sanctions on the Hong Kong and People’s Republic of China officials responsible for the bounties placed on overseas activists using the authorities available under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The Chairs were joined by the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) in making this request.
Background: The Chairs have urged the Biden Administration to sanction judges and prosecutors for their role in the arbitrary detention of Hong Kong democracy and rights activists, particularly in National Security Law cases. The last sanctions imposed by the Administration on Hong Kong officials was in January of 2021.
The Chairs are also lead sponsors of two bipartisan bills to address efforts by the Hong Kong and PRC governments to demolish the democratic freedoms guaranteed to the Hong Kong people by international treaty:
The Transnational Repression Policy Act (S. 831 / H.R. 3654) which would give the Administration additional tools to hold foreign governments and individuals accountable when they stalk, intimidate, or assault U.S. citizens and residents.
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act (H.R. 1103 / S. 490) which would give the President the authority to strip the immunities and privileges granted to the three Hong Kong government diplomatic outposts in the United States, which reportedly engage in the surveillance of Hong Kong democracy advocates in the United States.
The Transnational Repression Policy Act (S. 831 / H.R. 3654) may be accessed here.
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act (H.R. 1103/S. 490) may be accessed here.
The text of the Letter follows
December 19th, 2023
The Honorable Antony Blinken
Secretary of State
Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Blinken,
On December 14, 2023, Hong Kong authorities, under the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), issued five arrest warrants and HK$1 million (US$128,000) bounties on overseas activists accused of violating the Hong Kong National Security Law (HKNSL). Two of said bounties are on a U.S. citizen and a U.S. resident.1 The Hong Kong authorities’ egregious attempt to intimidate and silence U.S. nationals engaged in peaceful political activism in the United States is outrageous and cannot be met with inaction. We urge the administration to take swift action and impose sanctions on the perpetrators of this reprehensible act of transnational repression. We also urge you to work with Congress to address transnational repression.
The People’s Republic of China committed to maintaining Hong Kong’s autonomy and democracy under the “One Country, Two Systems” framework when Hong Kong was handed over to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. Despite this commitment, the CCP led by General Secretary Xi Jinping has implemented draconian judicial reforms eroding Hong Kong law enforcement’s independence. The CCP has since unabashedly eroded civil liberties and political freedom in Hong Kong through their Hong Kong authorities as proxies.2
Lawful pro-democracy protests in the summer of 2019 were met by the CCP’s unilaterally enactment of the draconian HKNSL in 2020 to silence dissent in Hong Kong. The HKNSL is deliberately vague, outlining crimes such as “secession,” “subversion,” and “collusion,” punishable by upwards of life imprisonment.3 Notably, the HKNSL contains provisions on extraterritorial jurisdiction and paves a legal pathway for Hong Kong authorities to target dissidents and critics anywhere in the world regardless of their nationality or country of residence.4
The United States considers the HKNSL to be a brazen breach of the People’s Republic of China’s commitment to upholding Hong Kong’s autonomy and democracy and responded by passing the Hong Kong Autonomy Act and issuing Executive Order 13936, in addition to the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, to hold persons eroding Hong Kong autonomy accountable. The United States must not turn a blind eye to the CCP and Hong Kong authorities’ extending their long arm of repression onto U.S. soil and threatening the civil liberties practiced by persons living in the United States.
In this context, we request that you determine by January 19th, 2024, whether the following Hong Kong and CCP security officials meet the criteria for sanctions pursuant to the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, and Executive Order 13936.
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Paul Lam Ting-kwok, Hong Kong Secretary for Justice
-
Raymond Siu Chak-yee, Hong Kong Commissioner of Police
-
Margaret Chiu Wing-lan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, National Security
-
Dick Wong Chung-chun, Assistant Commissioner of Police, National Security
-
Bruce Hung Ngan, Senior Superintendent of Police
-
Maggie Yang Mei-kei, Hong Kong Director of Public Prosecutions
-
Dong Jingwei, Director of the Office for Safeguarding National Security
We appreciate your attention on this important matter and look forward to your response. Sincerely,
____________________________
Representative Mike Gallagher
Chairman
House Select Committee on the CCP
____________________________
Representative Chris Smith
Chair
Congressional-Executive Commission on China
____________________________
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi
Ranking Member
House Select Committee on the CCP
____________________________
Senator Jeff Merkley
Cochair
Congressional-Executive Commission on China
1 Jessie Pang, “Hong Kong police expand dragnet on overseas pro-democracy activists,” Reuters, December 14, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/china/hong-kong-police-issue-arrest-warrants-5-more-overseas-activists-2023- 12-14/
2 Chris Buckley and Alan Wong, “Hong Kong Students Boycott Classes in Democracy Fight,” The New York Times, September 22, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/world/asia/hong-kong-students-lead-democracy-fight- with-class-boycott.html; and Keith Bradsher, “Hong Kong Retreats on ‘National Education’ Plan,” The New York Times, September 8, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/world/asia/amid-protest-hong-kong-backs-down- on-moral-education-plan.html
3 Javier C. Hernández, “Harsh Penalties, Vaguely Defined Crimes: Hong Kong’s Security Law Explained,” The New York Times, October 11, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/world/asia/hong-kong-security-law- explain.html4 The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, “The jurisdiction of Hong Kong National Security Law accords with international norms and double-standard criticisms are for an ulterior motive,” July 2023, https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202307/06/P2023070600680.htm#:~:text=Under%20the%20principle%20of%2 0%22protective,effect%20to%20exercise%20prescriptive%20criminal
CC:
The President of the United States, The Honorable Joseph Biden The Secretary of Treasury, The Honorable Janet Yellen
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