US should expand Hong Kong sanctions to mid-tier officials, panel is told
- Congressional-Executive Commission on China hears recommendations on how to increase pressure on Beijing over its crackdown on Hongkongers’ rights
- Other suggested measures include speeding action on requests for political asylum and passing a bill to ban sales of arms to Hong Kong
US sanctions on senior Hong Kong officials over China’s tightening grip have proven largely ineffective and should be expanded to include the middle tiers of the bureaucracy, witnesses told a China policy panel on Tuesday.
Lawmakers and activists also told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) that foreign companies with business ties to the mainland too often ignore the erosion of civilian freedoms.
“Existing sanctions are nowhere close to sufficient as a deterrent. I urge Congress and the White House specifically to issue sanctions against the mid-level prosecutors and police officers, casting the net wide and low enough to send a message,” said Samuel Bickett, a human rights lawyer and fellow at the Georgetown Centre for Asian Law, adding: “I think the business community is not as concerned as it should be with the situation in Hong Kong.”
The commission, set up in 2000 to monitor China’s human rights and rule-of-law record, is an advisory body to Congress and the executive branch but its members have had significant influence on a number of high-profile China bills in recent years.
Beijing has long accused critics of its record in Hong Kong of interfering in China’s internal affairs and attempting to frustrate its development.