Congressman Ben McAdams voted for three bipartisan measures to pressure China to back off any crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. McAdams is a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and has joined House and Senate members in voicing bipartisan concerns about erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy, human rights and freedoms.
“The voices of the courageous pro-democracy residents of Hong Kong must be heard, respected and followed. Any attempt by the Chinese government and the Communist Party to stifle pro-democracy efforts or to erode Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms should be strongly condemned,” said McAdams.
McAdams signed on to one of the three bills passed by the House today –the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 (H.R. 3289), which requires the State Department to provide an annual report on the autonomy of Hong Kong and to list individuals responsible for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and human rights and impose sanctions on them. He also supported the PROTECT Hong Kong Act (H.R. 4270), which requires the President to prohibit the issuance of export licenses for nonlethal crowd control items and defense articles to the Hong Kong police. The third bill that passed the House is H. Res. 543 – Recognizing Hong Kong’s bilateral relationship with the United States and supporting the people of Hong Kong’s right to protest. The resolution calls on the Hong Kong government to address protesters’ demands, condemns police brutality against peaceful protesters and condemns Chinese efforts to falsely accuse U.S. diplomats of fueling unrest.
