SRES98-119

That the Senate— condemns the Government of the People’s Republic of China’s Hong Kong national security law, the Hong Kong government’s Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, and related abuses of internationally recognized human rights; urges all governments that value democracy or autonomy to hold the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong authorities accountable for their destruction of Hong Kong’s autonomy, rule of law, and freedoms; supports the people of Hong Kong as they fight to exercise fundamental rights and freedoms, as enumerated by— the Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, done at Beijing December 19, 1984; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, done at New York December 19, 1966; and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, done at Paris December 10, 1948; condemns the Government of the People’s Republic of China’s practice of bringing false and politically motivated charges against Hong Kongers and the expansion of Hong Kong’s national security regime that destroys the rule of law and undermines citizens’ rights in Hong Kong; calls upon the Hong Kong government to immediately drop all sedition, national security law, and Article 23-related charges and free all defendants immediately, including Jimmy Lai; expresses extreme concern about the Government of the People's Republic of China' state-directed theft of Apple Daily, and holds that Hong Kong no longer has credibility as an international business center due to the erosion of the regulatory, legal, and judicial environments that have promoted its economic growth for decades; encourages the United States Government and other governments to take steps at multilateral institutions to ensure that voting procedures recognize that there is no longer a meaningful distinction between Hong Kong and mainland China; and urges the United States Government to use all available and appropriate tools, including those authorized by the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, in response to the Government of the People’s Republic of China’s actions in Hong Kong.