Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) Certification Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding, and I thank him for his leadership, as well as the leadership of Mr. Meeks and, of course, Chairman McCaul.

As the prime author of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which I first introduced in 2014 when the umbrella revolution was occurring, many of us thought that if we did not take definitive actions, then Hong Kong would be lost.

Unfortunately, Congress refused for years to bring up that bill. We did get it enacted into law, but it was a day late and a dollar short. However, this legislation, H.R. 1103, is a necessary next step in tangibly demonstrating our solidarity with the persecuted citizens of Hong Kong.

I want to thank Jim McGovern, my friend and colleague, for cosponsoring it. It is a bipartisan bill, and, again, I appreciate Mr. Meeks' statement just a moment ago.

At one time, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in the United States represented a city whose prosperity was based on its protection of fundamental human rights and freedom of the Hong Kong people.

The U.S. gifted these offices, commonly known as HKETOs for short, with diplomatic privileges and immunities on the assumption that Hong Kong would remain free from Communist rule. However, 3 years after the CCP imposed the national security law on Hong Kong, we must deal with this new reality. The Hong Kong all of us knew, loved, and respected is gone. The city that was once a bastion of freedom in a sea of oppression is now governed by CCP puppets who have become as repressive as their masters in Beijing.

Hong Kong unjustly detains political prisoners at a rate only surpassed by a handful of dictatorships such as Belarus and Burma. There are over 1,000 political prisoners in Hong Kong today. Renowned pro-democracy figures like Jimmy Lai--I actually chaired a hearing where we heard from his son, Sebastien, pleading with the world to speak up on behalf of his father--is now languishing in prison.

Joshua Wong, whom we all met with during the great days when it looked like democracy was going to be protected, he, too, is languishing, as well as Tonyee Chow and so many others who are living in these horrible gulags in Hong Kong.

But most of Hong Kong's political prisoners actually are unknown. They are university and high school students, medical workers, first responders, lawyers, teachers, moms and dads, businesspeople, journalists, and municipal policymakers jailed and sometimes tortured for peacefully demonstrating and organizing to protect democracy and human rights.

The HKETOs are complicit in persecuting them. These offices serve as Beijing's propaganda arm in the United States, defending and dismantling the freedom of Hong Kong and obscuring the truth.

In addition, HKETOs help the Chinese Communist Party track exiled Hong Kong activists in our own country. Anna Kwok, the executive director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, testified at one of my China hearings and made very clear that they are using these so-called economic leaders to track individuals and to hold family members and the like responsible back in the PRC as well as to put bounties on these individuals.

This must stop, Mr. Speaker. The United States should not be granting diplomatic privileges and immunities to a network of Communist spies and propagandists.

I spent a whole day reading each of the three HKETO websites. It was filled--overflowing with lies and deception, especially about the National Security Act, which is as draconian as any law that has ever been enacted.

I do hope Members will support this. Even during last year's Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, who was organizing the counterprotests to the wonderful men and women of Hong Kong simply demanding freedom and democracy? Yes. It was HKETO there.

Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support H.R. 1103.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1103) to require the President to remove the extension of certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices if Hong Kong no longer enjoys a high degree of autonomy from the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this measure.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1103, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act introduced by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Hong Kong was once a shining beacon in Asia and the gateway into China, known for its economic freedom, rule of law, and vibrant civil society. Tragically, this ended when the Chinese

Communist Party crushed democracy and free enterprise in Hong Kong.

People of all walks of life, and much international capital, have fled this authoritarian wave, and the city has never been the same.

We cannot allow the CCP to use Hong Kong's former legitimacy as a continuing gateway into U.S. systems. Both Secretary of State Pompeo and Secretary Blinken have certified that because of the Chinese Communist Party's control over Hong Kong's legislature, judicial system, and police force, Hong Kong can no longer be considered a separate entity from the People's Republic of China.

We must adjust our treatment of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices to match the sad current reality.

This bill would require the President to annually certify whether those offices should be covered by the International Organizations Immunities Act. If certification is not granted, they must terminate their operations in the United States.

The bipartisan membership of the Foreign Affairs Committee voted unanimously in favor of this bill at our markup last year.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of our colleagues to support the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), who is a tireless champion for human rights. He is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, and he is the author of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for the purpose of closing.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Smith as well as Mr. McGovern and their bipartisan cosponsors for bringing this bill forward.

The tragedy that has unfolded in Hong Kong and the ripping up of an international treaty by the Chinese Communist Party is a stark lesson that Beijing cannot be trusted, which we have to learn, especially when it comes to deterrence in Taiwan. We cannot allow what happened in Hong Kong to happen to the democracy in Taiwan.

We also cannot allow the Chinese Communist Party to use Hong Kong's economic and trade offices as a back door into the United States. They must not be able to use the preferential treatment previously afforded to the city and society they continue to brutalize and oppress.

For these and many other reasons, I urge all Members to vote in favor of H.R. 1103, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1103, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act, as amended.

This bill recognizes that Beijing has ripped apart any credible notion of Hong Kong's autonomy and has undone the ``one country, two systems'' framework. In doing so, Beijing betrayed not only the people of Hong Kong but the commitments it made to the whole world.

Hong Kong is no longer a bastion of the rule of law, no longer a place of political freedom, and no longer a place where opinions can be voiced freely. Today, over 1,800 political prisoners sit behind bars. Trials are held in secret, and justice is sent to mainland China. The freedoms once cherished in Hong Kong are disappearing rapidly.

The bill in front of us today calls on the President to determine whether the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in the United States should continue to get the privileges, exemptions, and immunities which were offered based on Hong Kong's distinct autonomous status. After all, why should we treat Hong Kong as different from China now when the Chinese Communist Party is tightening its grip over Hong Kong's political and governing system?

This bill is timely and necessary. As we move forward, it is critical the State Department has the ability to assist both the hundreds of U.S. businesses operating and the over 80,000 American citizens living in Hong Kong. We need to make sure that our actions aren't indirectly strengthening Beijing's grip on Hong Kong's politics or its governance.

I had proposed changes to this legislation during our markup to address some of these concerns, but, unfortunately, these were not accepted by the majority.

After this bill passes, I hope that the executive branch and Congress can consider these issues together in a bipartisan manner so that we have one voice and so that with that one voice we may hold Beijing and Hong Kong accountable and protect American interests with one voice.

Finally, I will thank Representatives Chris Smith for all of his hard work on the bill as well as Representative Jim McGovern for introducing this important piece of legislation. In that spirit, I encourage all of my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, over the last year alone, we have seen Beijing and Hong Kong authorities crack down further on dissent and free expression at home and abroad.

In March, they enacted national security legislation under article 23 of

the Basic Law to once again fundamentally erode the rights and freedoms of Hong Kongers.

I am also especially concerned about Beijing's use of transnational repression on our shores, where we have seen democracy advocates, including a U.S. citizen, charged under the national security law, with rewards offered for their capture.

This bill is necessary right now because we need to ensure that Hong Kong's economic and trade offices in the United States are not being used by Beijing to execute its transnational repression here in the United States against those simply standing for freedom and democracy.

I hope all of our colleagues will join all of us here on the floor in supporting this timely and important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on Roll Call No. 405, I mistakenly voted NAY when I intended to vote YEA.