US lawmakers want resumption of congressional briefings on Hong Kong
JAMES GRIFFITHSjames.griffiths@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Friday, 10 October, 2014, 9:23am
UPDATED : Friday, 10 October, 2014, 12:05pm
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, chairman of the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Photo: AP
The US congressional commission on China has called on the US State Department to revive congressional briefings on human rights in Hong Kong last held during the Clinton administration over a decade ago.
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, called on President Obama to press Xi Jinping on "issues like Hong Kong" when the leaders of the world's two major economies meet next month in Beijing.
"Hong Kong has suffered a major setback to its democratic development after China all but ruled out a fair election for Hong Kong’s chief executive in 2017," said Brown as he unveiled the report.
The report calls for "members of Congress and the Administration [to] renew the reporting requirements of Section 301 of the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, paying particular attention to the development of democratic institutions in Hong Kong and China’s obligations under international treaties and agreements."
The act requires the US Secretary of State to report to both Houses of Congress on “the development of democratic institutions in Hong Kong”. The last such report was made in March 2000.
Protesters flee teargas in downtown Hong Kong. US lawmakers have criticised police's handling of pro-democracy protests in the city. Photo: AFP
The commission’s annual report was released on the 12th day of pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, in which tens of thousands of residents have taken to the streets to call for the open selection of candidates in the 2017 elections for the territory’s top job.
The report, endorsed by all 17 members of the bipartisan commission, called on the Hong Kong administration and the Chinese central government in Beijing to institute universal suffrage in line with the Basic Law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty that China signed in the 1990s but has not yet ratified.
Organisers of the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement, which has paralysed much of the city since it officially began on September 28, have long complained that Beijing’s proposed model for the chief executive election – whereby voters choose between no more than three candidates nominated by a pro-Beijing committee – does not meet “international standards”.
Last week, the White House had already called for Hongkongers to be given a “genuine choice of candidates representative of the voters’ will.”
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, the congressional commission’s co-chair, previously vowed to introduce bipartisan legislation to amend the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act and strengthen US monitoring of developments in Hong Kong.
“China must honour its commitments to allow Hong Kong to maintain its separate system and to hold democratic elections starting in 2017,” Brown said. “Hong Kong’s stability rests in its relative freedoms and rule of law.”
“The freedom genie cannot be stuffed neatly back into the Communist bottle,” said Brown’s co-chair, Republican Congressman Chris Smith after pro-democracy protests began late last month.
“Beijing can accept this fact, work within the promised ‘One Country, Two Systems Model’ and be lauded for its leadership, or Beijing can use force and repression again to stifle peaceful dissent and reform, losing the trust of the people of Hong Kong, neighbouring countries, and the international community at large.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a press conference in Washington on October 1st. Photo: AFP
As of Friday morning, China has yet to react to the congressional report.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who visited Washington DC last week, said Beijing would not tolerate foreign interference.
“Hong Kong affairs are China’s internal affairs,” Wang said during his trip. “All countries should respect China’s sovereignty.”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1613048/us-lawmakers-want-resumption-congressional-briefings-hong-kong
