US Congress Introduces New Hong Kong Sanctions Act: Response from Beijing and Hong Kong

Create a news article using this content November 9, 2023 2:13 amImage caption,Among the 49 people included in the list of the “Hong Kong Sanctions Law” are judges designated by the “National Security Law” of courts at all levels in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China.Shortly after Lee Ka-chiu, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, proposed in the Legislative Council to complete the national security legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law within 2024, a draft of the “Hong Kong Sanctions Act” in the U.S. Congress triggered fierce criticism from Beijing and Hong Kong political circles for many days.Cross-party U.S. lawmakers who pushed for the bill stated that the “Hong Kong Sanctions Act” is directed at China’s “Hong Kong National Security Law” and aims to hold Hong Kong officials accused of “violating human rights” accountable. 49 judges, legal or law enforcement officials and prosecutors were listed as targets for sanctions.Pro-Beijing political groups have been protesting at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong for several days. The Secretary for Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Tang Bingqiang, described the actions of U.S. lawmakers as “very close to gangsters” in order to “protect their ‘lackeys’ in Hong Kong.” Many senior officials Pro-establishment politicians have warned that Beijing may transfer cases related to the Hong Kong National Security Law to mainland China for trial.However, commentators pointed out to BBC Chinese that the US bill has just been submitted for review and it is too early to say anything at this time.What does the “Hong Kong Sanctions Law” contain?On November 1, five U.S. congressmen simultaneously submitted drafts of the “Hong Kong Sanctions Act” to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The structure of the two bills with the same content is quite simple, requiring the president to provide a detailed explanation within 180 days of the passage of the bill on whether to sanction the 49 Hong Kong judicial officers and officials listed in the bill.These 49 people include many judges, magistrates or former judges such as Chief Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of the Hong Kong SAR, China, the Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr Lam Ting-kwok, SC, the Secretary-General of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Au Chi-kwong, and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Police. Director of the Division Xiao Zeyi, Criminal Prosecution Commissioner of the Department of Justice Yang Meiqi and many other prosecutors, as well as external prosecutor Barrister Wu Meihua.The bill stipulates that the President of the United States must comply with the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2020. The 2020 Hong Kong Autonomy Act or the 2020 “The President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization” (The President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization) will make a decision on whether to sanction each person on the list and submit it to the U.S. Congress for participation. The House and House Foreign Affairs Committees, the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking, Housing and Municipal Affairs Committee submitted explanations.Among them, the United StatesHouse billIt was moved by Republican California Representative Young Kim, and was sponsored by Republican Utah Representative John Curtis and Democratic Massachusetts Representative Jim McGovern.USASenate side billIt was moved by Republican U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska and sponsored by Democratic U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon.image copyrightOrange County Register via Getty ImagesImage caption,Kim Choi Young-ok and four other cross-party members of the House of Representatives and the Senate proposed a draft of the “Hong Kong Sanctions Law.”Among this group of members, Kim Choi Ying-ok is the chairman of the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Merkley is the co-chairman of the Congressional and Executive Committee on China (CECC); Kuang Xiheng was a missionary in Taiwan; Sullivan is a member of the CECC. In June 2021, he and other congressmen visited Taipei on a US military transport plane, causing strong dissatisfaction in Beijing.In July 2022, the CECC issued a policy research report recommending sanctions on Lin Dingguo, who had just taken office as the Secretary for Justice at the time, and a number of prosecutors. The report said they “played a key role” in the Hong Kong SAR government’s execution of political persecution.Sullivan said that Hong Kong’s judicial system has lost its former independence and luster: “Since the 2019-2020 crackdown, Hong Kong’s judicial system has become a tool of the Chinese Communist Party to target innocent civilians.””The Joe Biden administration must let Beijing and the Chinese Communist minions in Hong Kong know that we were not fooled for one second.”BBC Chinese contacted Representative Kim Choi Young-ok’s office for further comment on China’s response to the bill, but had not received a reply by the time of publication.Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen attended a Hudson Institute event during her transit visit to the United States in April this year. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign AffairsShortly afterCiting the Foreign Sanctions Act, it issued “countermeasures” against the Hudson Institute and two of its top officials.Enos, who is also an adjunct professor of the Democracy and Governance Program at Georgetown University in the United States, told BBC Chinese: “Sanctioning Hong Kong judges and prosecutors will be visible evidence of the regression of Hong Kong’s rule of law. When the judicial system is no longer considered impartial, Without reliance, freedom and justice will be significantly reduced than before, and it will become very difficult for Lee Ka-chiu (Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR, China) to sell the illusion of business as usual to the business community.”Is there a good chance that the Hong Kong Sanctions Law will be implemented?Image caption,The draft “Hong Kong Sanctions Law” does not directly propose how to sanction Hong Kong judicial officers on the list.Enos told BBC Chinese that she believes the Hong Kong Sanctions Law is not controversial and has received strong cross-party and cross-house support. Many people also believe that the bill will attract more and more attention.However, some Hong Kong democrats have doubts about whether the bill can be implemented. Mark Simon, a long-time aide to Incarcerated One Media founder Jimmy Lai, said on Is it worth wasting political capital on this matter when dealing with other matters?”Skip Twitter post, 1Allow Twitter contentThis article contains content provided by Twitter. Because this content uses technology such as cookies or cookies, we will seek your consent before loading any content. You may be willing to read Twitter before giving permissionCookie PolicyandPrivacy Policy. If you wish to read the above, please click “Accept and Continue”.Accept and continueEnding Twitter post, 1Dr. Li Enhao, a researcher at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law in the United States, seems to feel the same way. He explained to the BBC Chinese reporter: “It is still unknown how quickly the House and Senate will pass it. After all, the current geopolitical situation is quite uncertain, and the issues of the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are still uncertain. Hot potato.””Even after Congress passes the bill and Biden signs it, the authorities still have six months to prepare a response to Congress’s decision on whether to sanction relevant individuals. By then, it may be close to the U.S. presidential election, and the policies of both the Democratic and Republican parties toward China and Hong Kong will change. Or remain unchanged, remains unknown.”Dr. Chung Kin-wah, a scholar of social policy and public administration in Hong Kong who lives in the UK, also told BBC Chinese: “Every year, members of the U.S. Congress submit thousands of bills. After they are introduced, some of them cannot be dealt with in the end… I think now it seems that that bill The bill has ‘not a single stroke in ten strokes’ (not a single stroke in eight strokes).”Zhong Jianhua believes that Washington can claim that since there are already two Hong Kong-related bills, the Secretary of State needs to submit a report accordingly every year so that Washington can evaluate how to respond. It would be redundant to enact legislation again.”Even if it is brought up to you, there is consensus between the two parties, and it is actually voted through, this bill only requires the government to consider whether to sanction these people in accordance with…