The chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China is calling for the “shutdown” of Hong Kong consular outposts in the U.S. because of China’s role in eroding Hong Kong’s rule of law and judicial independence.
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) called for the “shutdown” during the May 11 hearing called “One City, Two Legal Systems: Political Prisoners and the Erosion of the Rule of Law in Hong Kong,” a news release said. Smith said there’s no “distinction between the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong.”
“We no longer have rule of law in Hong Kong, but rule by law, laws that are imposed upon the people of Hong Kong by their communist overlords in Beijing,” Smith said in the release. “I see no reason why Communist China should have three additional consular outposts in the United States, as Hong Kong no longer is distinct from the mainland.”
Kevin Yam, senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Asian Law, said at the hearing that Hong Kong’s rule of law and judicial independence has endured “death by a thousand cuts from Beijing.”
“Rule of law is a principle under which all persons, institutions and entities are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced, independently adjudicated and consistent with international human rights principles,” U.S. courts have said.
Smith is the primary House sponsor of House Resolution 1103, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) Certification Act, which would revoke diplomatic “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.”
Sebastien Lai testified at the hearing about his father, media entrepreneur and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai. Jimmy Lai, who founded the independent Chinese language newspaper Apple Daily, has been imprisoned in Hong Kong since December 2020.
“What happened to my father, to Next Digital and to Apple Daily should sound the alarm bells for any business operating in Hong Kong,” Sebastien Lai said. “What happened to my father could happen to anyone, to any organization.
"For as long as my father remains in prison, Hong Kong is not a safe place to do business," he added. "For as long as the National Security Law and other laws are used to target business and organizations considered to undermine the CCP, Hong Kong is not a safe place to do business.”
