H. Res. 422 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
November 1, 2017. 
Whereas the People’s Republic of China assumed the exercise 
of sovereignty over the Hong Kong Special Administra-
tive Region 20 years ago, on July 1, 1997; 
Whereas the Joint Declaration between the Government of 
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Govern-
ment of the People’s Republic of China on the Question 
of the Hong Kong (in this resolution referred to as the 
‘‘Joint Declaration’’) required China’s National People’s 
Congress (NPC) to pass the ‘‘Basic Law of the Hong 
Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Re-
public of China’’ (in this resolution referred to as the 
‘‘Basic Law’’) consistent with the obligations contained in 
the Joint Declaration, which was approved by the NPC 
on April 4, 1990; 
Whereas relations between the United States and Hong Kong 
are fundamentally based upon the continued maintenance 
of the ‘‘one country, two systems’’ policy stipulated in the 
United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (Public 
Law 102–383; 22 U.S.C. 5701 et seq.) and established 
by the Joint Declaration; 
Whereas under the ‘‘one country, two systems’’ policy estab-
lished by the Joint Declaration, Hong Kong ‘‘will enjoy 
a high degree of autonomy except in foreign and defense
•HRES 422 EH 
affairs’’ and ‘‘will be vested with executive, legislative and 
independent judicial power including that of final adju-
dication’’; 
Whereas Hong Kong’s autonomy under the ‘‘one country, two 
systems’’ policy, as demonstrated by its highly developed 
rule of law, independent judiciary, and respect for the 
rights of individuals, has continued to make Hong Kong 
the preferred residence for over 85,000 United States 
citizens, and at least 1,400 United States businesses op-
erate in Hong Kong; 
Whereas the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law declare 
that the lifestyle and social and economic systems in 
Hong Kong will remain unchanged for 50 years after the 
1997 reversion; 
Whereas the Basic Law guarantees Hong Kong residents the 
freedoms of speech, press, publication, association, as-
sembly, demonstration, religious belief and activity, aca-
demic research, and the rights to form unions and to 
strike, among others; 
Whereas the Basic Law also guarantees Hong Kong residents 
the right to vote and to stand for election; 
Whereas although the Basic Law states that ‘‘the ultimate 
aim is the selection of the Chief Executive by universal 
suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative 
nominating committee in accordance with democratic pro-
cedures’’, the actual process for nominating eligible Chief 
Executive candidates remains heavily influenced by the 
Government of China; 
Whereas widespread frustration with the lack of progress to-
ward a democratic selection of candidates for Chief Exec-
utive provoked large-scale public demonstrations in late
•HRES 422 EH 
2014, popularly known as the ‘‘Umbrella Movement’’, 
that involved hundreds of thousands of demonstrators 
and the occupation of certain public spaces for as long 
as 79 days; 
Whereas, although Hong Kong continues to enjoy high levels 
of economic freedom and judicial independence, certain 
recent actions by the Government of China are incon-
sistent with its stated commitments to Hong Kong’s high 
degree of autonomy and the preservation of the rule of 
law; 
Whereas international press reported that from October 
through December 2015, four employees of Mighty Cur-
rent publishing house and its affiliated bookstore, Cause-
way Bay Books, a Hong Kong seller of publications crit-
ical of Chinese leadership, disappeared under suspicious 
circumstances from Hong Kong, Thailand, and mainland 
China, in potentially the most serious breach of the ‘‘one 
country, two systems’’ policy since 1997, which has had 
a chilling effect on the freedoms of speech and publica-
tion in Hong Kong; 
Whereas international press reported that— 
(1) Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen and the co-owner 
of Mighty Current, was last seen in Thailand in October 
2015; 
(2) The general manager of Mighty Current, Lui 
Bo, and the business manager, Cheung Jiping, dis-
appeared while on a visit to mainland China around Oc-
tober 2015; and 
(3) Lee Bo, who holds British and Chinese citizen-
ship and is a permanent resident of Hong Kong, dis-
appeared from Hong Kong on December 30, 2015;
•HRES 422 EH 
Whereas Mr. Lui, Mr. Cheung, and Mr. Lee each briefly re-
turned to Hong Kong in March 2016 to ask Hong Kong 
police to drop their missing persons’ cases before imme-
diately returning to mainland China; 
Whereas Lam Wing Kee, another Causeway Bay Books book-
seller, testified before the Congressional-Executive Com-
mission on China that he was detained by officials in 
Shenzhen, China on October 24, 2015, moved to a deten-
tion facility more than 1,300 miles away, and held incom-
municado and subjected to ‘‘endless interrogation’’ for 
seven and half months, during which he was forced to 
produce multiple, coerced confessions of ‘‘selling books il-
legally’’; 
Whereas on November 7, 2016, while the Hong Kong High 
Court was considering its final ruling to determine if the 
oaths sworn by certain Legislative Council candidates 
were in accordance with Article 104 of the Basic Law, 
the Standing Committee of the NPC issued its own inter-
pretation of Article 104 of the Basic Law in an attempt 
to foreclose the opportunity for the legislators-elect to re-
take their oaths and assume office; 
Whereas that interpretation of Article 104 by the Standing 
Committee of the NPC represented the first time it had 
issued such an interpretation while a Hong Kong judge 
was deliberating on the case in question and only the sec-
ond time it had done so in the absence of a request from 
Hong Kong authorities; 
Whereas according to the Hong Kong Bar Association, that 
preemptive interpretation was ‘‘unnecessary and inappro-
priate’’ and ‘‘created the impression that the [Standing 
Committee] is effectively legislating for Hong Kong, 
thereby casting doubts on the commitment of the Central
•HRES 422 EH 
People’s Government to abide by the principles of ‘one 
country, two systems’ ’’; 
Whereas on November 15, 2016, the High Court ruled that 
the oaths taken by Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Leung 
Chung-hang were invalid, and barred the two from serv-
ing as members of the Legislative Council; 
Whereas on December 16, 2016, then Chief Executive Leung 
Chun-ying and Secretary of Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok- 
keung filed for judicial review of the oaths taken by Lau 
Sui-lai, Nathan Law, Leung Kwok-hung, and Edward 
Yiu Chung-yim; 
Whereas on July 14, 2017, the High Court ruled that the 
oaths taken by Lau Sui-lai, Nathan Law, Leung Kwok- 
hung, and Edward Yiu Chung-yim were invalid and 
barred the four of them from serving as members of the 
Legislative Council; 
Whereas in August 2017, the Hong Kong Government ap-
pealed the original sentences of three ‘‘Umbrella Move-
ment’’ leaders, Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, and Alex 
Chow and asked for prison time after they had already 
completed their previous community service sentences; 
Whereas the Hong Kong Court of Appeal subsequently im-
posed prison sentences on Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, 
and Alex Chow of 6, 7, and 8 months respectively, which 
effectively bars them from running for political office for 
5 years; and 
Whereas these developments have called into question Hong 
Kong’s highly developed rule of law, independent judici-
ary, and respect for individual rights, which are funda-
mental to its way of life and economic prosperity: Now, 
therefore, be it
•HRES 422 EH 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes, consistent with the United States- 
Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, that— 
(A) Hong Kong continues to play an important 
role in today’s regional and world economy, with 
strong economic, cultural, and other ties to the 
United States; 
(B) respect for civil liberties, open markets, 
rule of law, and judicial independence are all inte-
gral aspects of Hong Kong’s lifestyle and social and 
economic systems; and 
(C) the authority of the United States Govern-
ment to treat Hong Kong as a non-sovereign entity 
distinct from China, for the purposes of United 
States laws relating to trade, finance, transpor-
tation, economic and cultural exchange, travel, law 
enforcement cooperation, export controls, and other 
matters, depends on Hong Kong remaining suffi-
ciently autonomous; and 
(2) urges adherence to the ‘‘one country, two sys-
tems’’ policy established by the Joint Declaration and 
the Basic Law with respect to— 
(A) Hong Kong’s exercise of a high degree of 
autonomy;
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(B) its enjoyment of executive, legislative, and 
independent judicial power; and 
(C) the robust protection of the fundamental 
rights of Hong Kong residents guaranteed by Chap-
ter III of the Basic Law. 
Attest: 
Clerk.