S.Amdt. 424

SA 424. Mr. GARDNER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 1790, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2020 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle E of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 12__. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON POLICY TOWARD HONG KONG.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The United States policy toward Hong Kong is guided by
the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law
102-383; 106 Stat. 1448) (referred to in this section as the
``Act''), which reaffirms that ``The Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China,
beginning on July 1, 1997, will continue to enjoy a high
degree of autonomy on all matters other than defense and
foreign affairs.''.
(2) The Act furthermore states that ``The human rights of
the people of Hong Kong are of great importance to the United
States and are directly relevant to United States interests
in Hong Kong.''.
(3) Pursuant to section 301 of the Act (22 U.S.C. 5731),
the annual report issued by the Department of State on
developments in Hong Kong (referred to in this section as the
``Report''), released on March 21, 2019, states that
``Cooperation between the United States Government and the
Hong Kong government remains broad and effective in many
areas, providing significant benefits to the United States
economy and homeland security.''.
(4) The Report states that ``the Chinese mainland central
government implemented or instigated a number of actions that
appeared inconsistent with China's commitments in the Basic
Law, and in the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, to
allow Hong Kong to exercise a high degree of autonomy.''.
(5) The Report furthermore states that the ``Hong Kong
authorities took actions aligned with mainland priorities at
the expense of human rights and fundamental freedoms. There
were particular setbacks in democratic electoral processes,
freedom of expression, and freedom of association.''.
(6) On June 10, 2019, the spokesporson for the Department
of State issued a statement expressing ``grave concern about
the Hong Kong government's proposed amendments to its
Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, which, if passed, would permit
Chinese authorities to request the extradition of individuals
to mainland China.''.
(7) According to media reports, in June 2019, over
1,000,000 residents of Hong Kong have taken part in
demonstrations against the proposed amendments to the
Fugitive Offenders Ordinance.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the government of the People's Republic of China and
the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's
Republic of China authorities should immediately cease taking
all actions that undermine Hong Kong's autonomy and
negatively impact the protections of fundamental human
rights, freedoms, and democratic values of the people of Hong
Kong, as enshrined in the Act, Hong Kong's Basic Law of 1997,
and the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984;
(2) the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the
People's Republic of China authorities should immediately
withdraw from consideration the proposed amendments to its
Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and refrain from any unwarranted
use of force against the protestors that is inconsistent with
internationally recognized law enforcement best practices;
and
(3) the United States should impose financial sanctions,
visa bans, and other punitive economic measures against all
individuals or entities violating the fundamental human
rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong, consistent
with United States and international law.
______