Title: A resolution condemning the crackdown by the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong, including the arrests of pro-democracy activists and repeated violations of the obligations of that Government undertaken in the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 and the Hong Kong Basic Law.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution condemns the crackdown on pro-democracy activists carried out by the governments of Hong Kong and China and the Chinese Communist Party under the illegitimate and arbitrary pretext of national security. The resolution also states that the crackdown violates (1) the 1984 agreement between the United Kingdom and China relating to Hong Kong; and (2) Hong Kong's Basic Law, the territory's constitutional document.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 126 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 126

Condemning the crackdown by the Government of the People's Republic of 
   China and the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong, including the 
   arrests of pro-democracy activists and repeated violations of the 
  obligations of that Government undertaken in the Sino-British Joint 
            Declaration of 1984 and the Hong Kong Basic Law.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 18, 2021

Mr. Rubio (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Braun, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Hoeven, 
Mr. Young, Mr. Coons, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Hawley, Mr. Marshall, 
  Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Markey, Mr. Risch, and Mr. Tillis) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                            on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning the crackdown by the Government of the People's Republic of 
   China and the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong, including the 
   arrests of pro-democracy activists and repeated violations of the 
  obligations of that Government undertaken in the Sino-British Joint 
            Declaration of 1984 and the Hong Kong Basic Law.

Whereas, on June 30, 2020, the Government of the People's Republic of China 
        unilaterally enacted the Law of the People's Republic of China on 
        Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative 
        Region (in this preamble referred to as the ``national security law'') 
        that banned secession, subversion of state power, and foreign 
        interference, charges that were deliberately vague and expansive 
        allowing the Government of the People's Republic of China maximum 
        discretion to criminalize political expression of which it disapproves;
Whereas the national security law was passed without input from the semi-
        democratic Legislative Council of Hong Kong, or from the Hong Kong 
        people more generally, and with no other attempt to account for the 
        well-founded concerns of the Hong Kong people regarding the sweeping 
        nature of the legislation and its incompatibility with Hong Kong's 
        system of justice and legal protections for fundamental rights and 
        freedoms;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Communist 
        Party, and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 
        have applied the draconian national security law arbitrarily to conduct 
        a crackdown of unprecedented scope and intensity, criminalizing peaceful 
        protests, political dissent, and other forms of nonviolent expression by 
        the people of Hong Kong;
Whereas the objective of the political crackdown is to persecute individuals who 
        have led peaceful pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong and to nullify 
        the fundamental freedoms and human rights guaranteed to the people of 
        Hong Kong under 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 
        December 19, 1984 (commonly referred to as the ``Sino-British Joint 
        Declaration of 1984''), and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special 
        Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, adopted April 
        4, 1990 (in this preamble referred to as the ``Hong Kong Basic Law'');
Whereas, in July 2020, Hong Kong authorities charged 19-year-old activist Tony 
        Chung with ``inciting secession'' on account of peaceful political 
        speech that occurred prior to the enactment of the national security 
        law, and, in October 2020, arrested and imprisoned Chung, who remains 
        incarcerated awaiting trial under the national security law;
Whereas, in July 2020, Hong Kong authorities announced that elections for the 
        Legislative Council scheduled to be held in September 2020 would be 
        postponed for an entire year under the pretense of public health 
        concerns;
Whereas, in August 2020, the Government of the People's Republic of China and 
        the Chinese Communist Party detained 12 Hong Kong activists at sea, 2 of 
        whom were juveniles, attempting to flee Hong Kong for Taiwan, and, after 
        holding those individuals arbitrarily for 4 months and denying them 
        access to lawyers hired by their families, in December 2020, tried them 
        in a secret proceeding in Shenzhen, China, and, in January 2021, 
        sentenced 10 of the 12 individuals to prison;
Whereas, in November 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People's 
        Congress in Beijing, China, the rubber-stamp legislature of the Chinese 
        Communist Party, adopted a decision that unilaterally disqualified Hong 
        Kong legislators who ``publicize or support independence,'' ``seek 
        foreign interference,'' or engage in ``other activities that endanger 
        national security,'' thereby allowing proxies of the Chinese Communist 
        Party in Hong Kong to arbitrarily remove any legislator whose views the 
        Party found objectionable, which they immediately did by removing 4 pro-
        democracy legislators;
Whereas, in December 2020, a Hong Kong court sentenced prominent pro-democracy 
        leaders and activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam to prison 
        for their roles in an ``unauthorized assembly'' in 2019;
Whereas, in December 2020, Hong Kong authorities arrested the founder of Apple 
        Daily and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai on false charges, repeatedly 
        denied him bail, and subsequently charged him with colluding with 
        foreign forces under the national security law;
Whereas, in January 2021, Hong Kong authorities arbitrarily arrested 53 pro-
        democracy politicians and subsequently charged all but 6 of them with 
        ``subversion'' under Article 22 of the national security law for simply 
        conducting a public opinion poll in July 2020 regarding candidates for 
        the Legislative Council;
Whereas, on February 23, 2021, Hong Kong authorities announced that any 
        candidate for district councilor, the lowest level of officials and the 
        only office that is fully democratic, must be a ``patriot'' and take an 
        oath swearing to uphold the Hong Kong Basic Law and pledge allegiance to 
        the Government of the People's Republic of China, and candidates who 
        engage in ``negative'' behaviors, such as promoting self-determination, 
        composing a referendum, or ``seeking to undermine the Hong Kong 
        government's interest and political structure,'' will be barred from 
        election for 5 years;
Whereas, on February 28, 2021, Hong Kong authorities arrested 47 pro-democracy 
        figures, most of whom are or were elected government officials, with 
        ``conspiracy to commit subversion'' under the national security law for 
        organizing and participating in an informal democratic primary for the 
        Legislative Council;
Whereas, on February 28, 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated, ``We 
        condemn the detention and charges filed against pan-democratic 
        candidates in Hong Kong's elections and call for their immediate 
        release. Political participation and freedom of expression should not be 
        crimes. The U.S. stands with the people of Hong Kong.'';
Whereas, on March 11, 2021, the National People's Congress in Beijing adopted 
        measures designed to fundamentally undo the existing democratic process 
        in Hong Kong; and
Whereas the people of Hong Kong have repeatedly shown extraordinary dedication 
        to the cause of democracy and freedom for more than 3 decades, and 
        almost continuously since 2014, protesting peacefully in the broiling 
        heat and pouring rain while often enduring tear gas, water cannons, and 
        worse, and have organized their communities, written petitions, tried to 
        stand for office, and volunteered for various forms of civic engagement, 
        and when the police attacked protesters, other Hong Kongers stepped up 
        to serve as medics, legal advisers, and liaisons to the protestors' 
        families: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns the crackdown carried out in Hong Kong by the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China, the Government of 
        the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Chinese 
        Communist Party under the illegitimate and arbitrary pretext of 
        national security and notes that the crackdown violates the 
        legal obligations of that Government under--
                    (A) the international, legally binding 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 December 19, 1984 (in this 
                resolution referred to as the ``Sino-British Joint 
                Declaration of 1984''); and
                    (B) the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special 
                Administrative Region of the People's Republic of 
                China, adopted April 4, 1990 (in this resolution 
                referred to as the ``Hong Kong Basic Law'');
            (2) expresses solidarity with the people of Hong Kong, 
        including pro-democracy advocates, independent journalists, 
        lawyers, people of faith, and other targeted groups in Hong 
        Kong;
            (3) calls on the United States Government to use all 
        diplomatic means and economic tools available, including 
        targeted sanctions and measures provided for in the Hong Kong 
        Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-76; 22 
        U.S.C. 5701 note) and the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (Public Law 
        116-149; 22 U.S.C. 5701 note), to--
                    (A) impose costs on Chinese Communist Party 
                officials, officials of the Government of the People's 
                Republic of China, and officials of the Government of 
                the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region responsible 
                for--
                            (i) the criminalization of political 
                        dissent under the Law of the People's Republic 
                        of China on Safeguarding National Security in 
                        the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (in 
                        this resolution referred to as the ``national 
                        security law''); and
                            (ii) the implementation of the national 
                        security law;
                    (B) provide refuge and safe harbor to those Hong 
                Kongers at risk for persecution, including by 
                designating such individuals as Priority 2 refugees of 
                special humanitarian concern;
                    (C) demand the immediate and unconditional release 
                of all political prisoners in Hong Kong, including 
                Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, Jimmy Lai, Martin Lee, 
                Margaret Ng, Lee Cheuk-yan, Leung Kwok-hung, Benny Tai, 
                Tony Chung, the Hong Kong 12, and all others who have 
                been arrested or detained on account of acts of 
                political expression or speech, and press for all 
                charges against those individuals to be dropped; and
                    (D) demand the revocation of the political oaths 
                required of civil servants and candidates for district 
                councilor and the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, the 
                reinstatement of the previously disqualified members of 
                the Legislative Council, and the revision of election 
                laws to ensure consistency with Article 26 of the Hong 
                Kong Basic Law;
            (4) calls on the United States Government, as it 
        contemplates future bilateral or multilateral agreements with 
        the Government of the People's Republic of China, to take into 
        full consideration the fact that the Government of the People's 
        Republic of China is failing to honor its clear obligations 
        under the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984; and
            (5) calls on the United States Government to urge the 
        International Olympic Committee to consider relocating the 2022 
        Winter Olympics from Beijing to another suitable host city 
        located outside of China, on account of the flagrant violations 
        of human rights committed by the Government of the People's 
        Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party in mainland 
        China, Hong Kong, the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan 
        areas, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Xinjiang 
        Uyghur Autonomous Region, and elsewhere.
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