Sec. 3. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: 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 (in this Act referred to as the Joint Declaration )— provided that the People’s Republic of China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997; and established a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong except in matters of foreign affairs and defense.
The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (in this Act referred to as Basic Law )— guarantees Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and separate executive, legislative, and independent judicial powers; generally prohibits the central Government of the People's Republic of China from interfering in the affairs that Hong Kong administers on its own according to the Basic Law; protects the rights to free speech, press, assembly, and religion; guarantees residents of Hong Kong the freedom of the person, meaning no Hong Kong resident shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful arrest, detention or imprisonment ; guarantees residents of Hong Kong the right to confidential legal advice, access to the courts, choice of lawyers for timely protection of their lawful rights and interests or for representation in the courts, and to judicial remedies ; provides that the socialist system and policies shall not be practiced in Hong Kong and that Hong Kong’s capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years (the principle of one country, two systems ); affirms the continuing applicability of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to Hong Kong; provides that the head of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be the Chief Executive; provides 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 procedures ; provides that the legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be the Legislative Council; and provides that the ultimate aim is the election of all the members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage .
The National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) determined on December 29, 2007, that Hong Kong could elect the Chief Executive by universal suffrage beginning in 2017, and that Hong Kong could thereafter elect the Legislative Council by universal suffrage beginning in 2020. The Chief Executive is currently selected by an Election Committee consisting of 1,200 members. In order to run, candidates for Chief Executive must currently receive the support of one-eighth of the members of the Election Committee, the majority of whom reportedly support or have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
On August 31, 2014, the NPCSC determined that the 2017 election for the Chief Executive could be held by universal suffrage but that Hong Kong voters could only choose from two to three candidates, each of whom is to be chosen by a majority of a nominating committee similar to the current Election Committee that is heavily controlled by pro-Beijing members. International standards for elections, including Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, guarantee citizens the right to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections by universal and equal suffrage without unreasonable restrictions.
Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents have consistently and peacefully expressed their dissatisfaction with the electoral reform plans of the Hong Kong government and the Government of the People's Republic of China, including the August 2014 NPCSC decision, and have called for a genuine choice in elections that meet international standards. Their peaceful and orderly protests have set an example for other democratic movements around the world, including those in mainland China that continue to fight for their fundamental freedoms.
Media reports and video footage indicate that Hong Kong police used tear gas and pepper spray against pro-democracy demonstrators on September 28, 2014. There have also been accusations of excessive use of force by the Hong Kong police, but no police officer has yet been convicted. Protestors and pro-democracy activists reported sustained harassment and intimidation during and after the demonstrations, including hacking of their email accounts or phone, by groups reportedly connected to the Government of the People's Republic of China.
Some protestors and activists have been unable to travel to mainland China due to their participation in the demonstrations, which has a direct bearing on their future employment prospects. Pro-democracy advocates claim that the Governments of the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong have assembled blacklists of activists banned from entering mainland China. Several prominent student leaders, including Joshua Wong, leader of the now dissolved student activist group Scholarism and Secretary-General of the political party Demosisto, Nathan Law, former General Secretary of the Hong Kong Federation of Students and current member of the Legislative Council, and Alex Chow, the former General Secretary of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, had legal charges levied against them due to their participation in pro-democracy protest activities in September 2014.
Wong and Chow were convicted of unlawful assembly while Law was convicted of incitement, offenses under Hong Kong’s Public Order Ordinance, which is incompatible with international standards on the freedom of assembly. Ahead of the September 2016 Legislative Council election, the Electoral Affairs Commission in Hong Kong issued a new confirmation form for LegCo candidates to sign confirming their commitment to uphold the Basic Law, specifically that the territory is an inalienable part of China.
Six pro-independence candidates were disqualified for failing to do so. This new requirement has been characterized as unlawful and political censorship by lawyers, political organizations, and students. Following the September 2016 Legislative Council elections, the Hong Kong government filed a lawsuit to remove from office two newly-elected pro-democracy lawmakers, arguing that the alterations they made to their oaths of office rendered those oaths invalid. On November 7, 2016, the NPCSC intervened in the pending court case, issuing an interpretation of article 104 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law which found that oaths of office would be invalid unless delivered sincerely and solemnly.
Following the NPCSC interpretation, the two lawmakers were removed from office by a Hong Kong court. In December 2016, the Hong Kong government filed a lawsuit against four other pro-democracy lawmakers, seeking to disqualify and remove them from office for impermissibly altering their oaths. Five individuals affiliated with the Mighty Current Publishing House and the Causeway Bay Bookstore, both of which are based in Hong Kong and sell literary works critical of Beijing, disappeared under mysterious circumstances between October and December 2015, including Gui Minhai, a naturalized Swedish citizen and co-owner of Mighty Current;
Lee Bo, a British citizen and co-owner of Mighty Current; Lui Bo; Cheung Chi-ping; and Lam Wing-kee. Upon his return to Hong Kong in June 2016, Lam publicly revealed details of his and other booksellers’ detentions, including their forced confessions alleging that the abductions and detentions were directed by Chinese central government officials. Despite Lee’s denial that he was abducted and the televised confessions of the other four, the five men’s disappearances have been widely condemned by human rights organizations and foreign officials and have resulted in allegations of mainland China’s law enforcement agencies operating in Hong Kong, which would be a violation of the Basic Law.
In February 2016, the British Foreign Secretary said Lee Bo’s involuntary removal to mainland China constitute[d] a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration that paved the way for Hong Kong’s 1997 return to China. As part of the treaty, China promised to safeguard Hong Kong’s freedoms. As China’s use of public confessions has expanded, several Hong Kong media outlets have been the medium whereby prominent rights defenders and lawyers, including Wang Yu and Zhao Wei, have confessed to their alleged crimes.
The United States enjoys close economic, social, and cultural ties with Hong Kong. According to the Department of State, 60,000 United States citizens live in Hong Kong, and 1,400 United States businesses have offices there. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Hong Kong is the United States 18th largest trade partner and 10th largest export market for United States goods. Hong Kong’s unique status as an international finance center where the rule of law and the rights and freedoms of its citizens are protected has served as the foundation for Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity.
Section 301 of the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 ( 22 U.S.C. 5731 ) required the Secretary of State to issue reports on conditions in Hong Kong of interest to the United States, including the development of democratic institutions in Hong Kong, and the last report under section 301 was issued on June 30, 2007. Failure to establish a genuine democratic option to nominate and elect the Chief Executive of Hong Kong by 2017 and to establish open and direct democratic elections for all members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council by 2020 would reduce confidence in the commitment of the Government of the People’s Republic of China to uphold its obligations under international law, and would erode the ability of Hong Kong to retain a high degree of autonomy.
During an October 2014 session, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, consisting of 18 independent experts, reviewed China’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with respect to Hong Kong. According to the session’s chair, the Committee agreed on the need to ensure universal suffrage, which means both the right to be elected as well as the right to vote. The main concerns of Committee members were focused on the right to stand for elections without unreasonable restrictions.
Another Committee member said that the committee doesn’t want candidates filtered. The problem is that Beijing wants to vet candidates. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s 2015 Annual Report observed developments raising concerns that the Chinese and Hong Kong governments may have infringed on the rights of the people of Hong Kong, including in the areas of political participation and democratic reform, press freedom, and freedom of assembly. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s 2016 Annual Report found that the growing influence of the Chinese central government and communist party and suspected activity by Chinese authorities in Hong Kong—notably the disappearance, alleged abduction, and detention in mainland China of five Hong Kong booksellers—raised fears regarding Hong Kong’s autonomy within China as guaranteed under the . one country, two systems policy enshrined in the Basic Law, which prohibits mainland Chinese authorities from interfering in Hong Kong A Hong Kong Journalists Association
(HKJA)survey on press freedom found that 85 percent of journalists believed press freedom had deteriorated in 2015. Hong Kong ranked 69th among 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ 2016 World Press Freedom Index, down eight places in just two years and marking a significant decline from 2002, when Hong Kong ranked 18th. Freedom House’s 2015 Freedom of the Press Report found a five-year decline in press freedom in Hong Kong marked by an increase in physical attacks against journalists, cyberattacks crippling widely read news sites at politically sensitive moments, and businesses withdrawing advertising from outlets that were critical of Beijing and supportive of prodemocracy protestors.
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