SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Hong Kong Autonomy Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
Sec. 3. Findings. 
Sec. 4. Sense of Congress regarding Hong Kong. 
Sec. 5. Identification of foreign persons involved in the erosion of the obliga-
tions of China under the Joint Declaration or the Basic Law 
and foreign financial institutions that conduct significant 
transactions with those persons. 
Sec. 6. Sanctions with respect to foreign persons that contravene the obliga-
tions of China under the Joint Declaration or the Basic Law. 
Sec. 7. Sanctions with respect to foreign financial institutions that conduct sig-
nificant transactions with foreign persons that contravene the 
obligations of China under the Joint Declaration or the Basic 
Law. 
Sec. 8. Waiver, termination, exceptions, and congressional review process. 
Sec. 9. Implementation; penalties. 
Sec. 10. Rule of construction. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ALIEN; 
NATIONAL; 
NATIONAL
OF
THE 
UNITED
STATES.—The terms ‘‘alien’’, ‘‘national’’, 
and ‘‘national of the United States’’ have the mean-
ings given those terms in section 101 of the Immi-
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101). 
(2) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES
AND
LEADERSHIP.—The term ‘‘appropriate 
congressional committees and leadership’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Armed Services, the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-
ernmental Affairs, the Committee on the Judi-
ciary, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and 
the majority leader and the minority leader of 
the Senate; and 
(B) the Committee on Armed Services, the 
Committee on Financial Services, the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on 
Homeland Security, the Committee on the Judi-
ciary, the Permanent Select Committee on In-
telligence, and the Speaker and the minority 
leader of the House of Representatives. 
(3) BASIC LAW.—The term ‘‘Basic Law’’ means 
the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Adminis-
trative Region of the People’s Republic of China. 
(4) CHINA.—The term ‘‘China’’ means the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China. 
(5) ENTITY.—The term ‘‘entity’’ means a part-
nership, joint venture, association, corporation, orga-
nization, network, group, or subgroup, or any other 
form of business collaboration. 
(6) FINANCIAL
INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘fi-
nancial institution’’ means a financial institution
specified in section 5312(a)(2) of title 31, United 
States Code. 
(7) HONG
KONG.—The term ‘‘Hong Kong’’ 
means the Hong Kong Special Administrative Re-
gion of the People’s Republic of China. 
(8) JOINT
DECLARATION.—The term ‘‘Joint 
Declaration’’ means the Joint Declaration of the 
Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Northern Ireland and the Government of the 
People’s Republic of China on the Question of Hong 
Kong, done at Beijing on December 19, 1984. 
(9) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 
respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 
means that a person has actual knowledge of the 
conduct, the circumstance, or the result. 
(10) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an 
individual or entity. 
(11) UNITED
STATES
PERSON.—The term 
‘‘United States person’’ means— 
(A) any citizen or national of the United 
States; 
(B) any alien lawfully admitted for perma-
nent residence in the United States; 
(C) any entity organized under the laws of 
the United States or any jurisdiction within the
United States (including a foreign branch of 
such an entity); or 
(D) any person located in the United 
States. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The Joint Declaration and the Basic Law 
clarify certain obligations and promises that the 
Government of China has made with respect to the 
future of Hong Kong. 
(2) The obligations of the Government of China 
under the Joint Declaration were codified in a le-
gally-binding treaty, signed by the Government of 
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern 
Ireland and registered with the United Nations. 
(3) The obligations of the Government of China 
under the Basic Law originate from the Joint Dec-
laration, were passed into the domestic law of China 
by the National People’s Congress, and are widely 
considered by citizens of Hong Kong as part of the 
de facto legal constitution of Hong Kong. 
(4) Foremost among the obligations of the Gov-
ernment of China to Hong Kong is the promise that, 
pursuant to Paragraph 3b of the Joint Declaration, 
‘‘the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will
enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign 
and defence affairs which are the responsibilities of 
the Central People’s Government’’. 
(5) The obligation specified in Paragraph 3b of 
the Joint Declaration is referenced, reinforced, and 
extrapolated on in several portions of the Basic Law, 
including Articles 2, 12, 13, 14, and 22. 
(6) Article 22 of the Basic Law establishes that 
‘‘No department of the Central People’s Government 
and no province, autonomous region, or municipality 
directly under the Central Government may interfere 
in the affairs which the Hong Kong Special Admin-
istrative Region administers on its own in accord-
ance with this Law.’’. 
(7) The Joint Declaration and the Basic Law 
make clear that additional obligations shall be un-
dertaken by China to ensure the ‘‘high degree of au-
tonomy’’ of Hong Kong. 
(8) Paragraph 3c of the Joint Declaration 
states, as reinforced by Articles 2, 16, 17, 18, 19, 
and 22 of the Basic Law, that Hong Kong ‘‘will be 
vested with executive, legislative and independent ju-
dicial power, including that of final adjudication’’. 
(9) On multiple occasions, the Government of 
China has undertaken actions that have contravened
the letter or intent of the obligation described in 
paragraph (8) of this section, including the fol-
lowing: 
(A) In 1999, the Standing Committee of 
the National People’s Congress overruled a de-
cision by the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal 
on the right of abode. 
(B) On multiple occasions, the Government 
of Hong Kong, at the advice of the Government 
of China, is suspected to have not allowed per-
sons entry into Hong Kong allegedly because of 
their support for democracy and human rights 
in Hong Kong and China. 
(C) The Liaison Office of China in Hong 
Kong has, despite restrictions on interference in 
the affairs of Hong Kong as detailed in Article 
22 of the Basic Law— 
(i) openly expressed support for can-
didates in Hong Kong for Chief Executive 
and Legislative Council; 
(ii) expressed views on various policies 
for the Government of Hong Kong and 
other internal matters relating to Hong 
Kong; and