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https://scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3037826/us-senators-urge-passage-hong-kong-democracy-bill-violence-city
China/ Politics

US senators try to fast-track Hong Kong democracy bill as violence in city rises

  • Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Jim Risch start ‘hotline’ to let Senate speed up approval of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act
  • Passage not clinched by end of business on Thursday
The protests in Hong Kong has become increasingly violent. Photo: Reuters

The United States Senate on Thursday initiated an expedited “hotline” process to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, as the escalation of violent clashes between the city’s police and protesters continue to make headlines worldwide.

US Senator Marco Rubio, the bill’s sponsor, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jim Risch, started the quick passage process in a bid to speed up the passing of the bill, which would clear the way for sanctions against individuals deemed to have violated Hong Kong’s autonomy from mainland China.

The strategic procedure carried out by the Senate’s leadership checks for last-minute opposition to bringing a bill immediately to the floor for a vote. If no senators voice opposition to sidestepping a formal vote, the bill passes.

However, Rubio and Risch were not able to clinch passage by the end of the Senate session on Thursday, according to a Senate foreign relations committee aide.

“Sometimes the hotline process takes more than a day, so it’s still moving along,” the person said, adding that the floor was closed until Monday.

Earlier in the day, Rubio, a Republican senator for Florida, urged the Senate to immediately pass the legislation.

“The world witnesses the people of Hong Kong standing up every day to defend their long-cherished freedoms against an increasingly aggressive Beijing and Hong Kong government,” he said in a statement.

“Now more than ever, the United States must send a clear message to Beijing that the free world stands with Hongkongers in their struggle,” Rubio said.

Rubio’s comments came after China’s state-run Xinhua news agency earlier on Thursday quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping as reiterating that Beijing supported the Hong Kong police’s use of force to quell the “continuing radical violent crimes”.

US Senator Marco Rubio says the US must send a clear message to Beijing that the free world stands with Hongkongers. Photo: AFP
US Senator Marco Rubio says the US must send a clear message to Beijing that the free world stands with Hongkongers. Photo: AFP

China’s state-owned Global Times newspaper published a post to its Twitter account saying that Hong Kong authorities were preparing to announce the imposition of a weekend curfew. The tweet was later deleted.

“The world needs to see that the United States will stand up and tell the Chinese Communist Party that what they are doing to the people of Hong Kong is wrong,” Risch, a Republican for Idaho, said.

Speaking at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang reiterated China’s opposition to the bill, saying the US would also suffer if it were passed.

“China will take strong countermeasures in response to any wrong US decision,” he said.

China’s foreign ministry said Beijing would take “strong countermeasures in response to any wrong US decision”. Photo: Felix Wong
China’s foreign ministry said Beijing would take “strong countermeasures in response to any wrong US decision”. Photo: Felix Wong

Hong Kong increasingly has become a battleground between police and protesters since June, when mass peaceful marches targeted a government proposal, since withdrawn, to allow the city’s criminal ­suspects to be extradited to mainland China.

The protests morphed into a broader movement, with Hongkongers demanding fast tracking of the universal suffrage process for the election of the chief executive and the legislature, and an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality.

Under the Basic Law – a mini-constitution for Hong Kong – the chief executive should be selected by universal suffrage and candidates chosen by a nominating committee. However, a government proposal to introduce the process in 2017 was voted down by legislators in 2015 essentially bringing the reform to a halt.

This week, the protests have taken a dark turn. On Monday, a Hong Kong police officer shot a protester, while in a separate incident, a man who expressed support for the police was set on fire following an argument with protesters near an MTR station. On Tuesday, fierce battles between police and protesters turned a top university’s campus into a combat zone.

On Wednesday, a 15-year-old boy was hit in the head by what appeared to be a tear-gas canister, according to the city Hospital Authority, and on Thursday, a 70-year-old man died after being hit by a brick during clashes between protesters and locals in the New Territories.

Battles have raged across the city, with protesters setting up barricades on major roads and railway lines to disrupt traffic, setting fire to harbour tunnel tollbooths and inside MTR stations and vandalising public facilities.

On Wednesday, the Sha Tin Magistrate Court building was struck by an arson attack that police have blamed on the protesters.

US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell echoed Rubio and Risch in a tweet on Thursday, urging the US government to act quickly to protect the protesters.

“The Senate needs to stand with Hong Kong, and I hope we can take action soon,” he said. “I was encouraged by a productive conversation with [Rubio on Wednesday] on legislation to further help the people of Hong Kong.”

The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act would give the president a mandate to impose sanctions on foreigners determined to be responsible for the extrajudicial rendition to the mainland, arbitrary detention, torture, or forced confession of people in Hong Kong, as well as for other gross violations of human rights in the city.

A poster at the Chinese University of Hong Kong expresses support for the proposed US democracy bill. Photo: Felix Wong
A poster at the Chinese University of Hong Kong expresses support for the proposed US democracy bill. Photo: Felix Wong

The bill would also require the executive branch to develop a strategy to protect US citizens and others in Hong Kong from rendition or abduction to China, and to report annually to Congress any violations of US export control laws and United Nations sanctions occurring in the city.

“Only international sanctions could impose some constraints on those who order to shoot and those who follow orders to shoot. The Senate needs to act as soon as possible on the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act” said Victoria Tin-bor Hui, from the Hong Kong Democracy Council in Washington.

Samuel Chu, the council’s managing director, praised Rubio’s efforts to enact the process that would speed the bill’s passage.

“The quickest way for the Senate to move would be to seek unanimous consent using a hotline,” he said.

“If the Hong Kong bill is hotline – and that can be done as soon as today – I firmly believe that the full Senate will stand united for Hong Kong.”

Additional reporting by Robert Delaney