The bill, which was initially developed by Sens. Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., unanimously cleared both chambers of Congress at the beginning of the month as U.S. lawmakers were infuriated by the swiftness with which the Chinese Communist Party – ignoring criticism and condemnation from a number of democratic countries – moved to draft and impose its sweeping anti-sedition law on Hong Kong.
The anti-sedition law effectively strips residents of the formerly autonomous territory of many of the free speech rights and civil liberties they have known and that Beijing promised in a treaty, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, to respect when the United Kingdom relinquished control over the city back to China in 1997.
The Toomey-Van Hollen measure gives the president the ability to waive sanctions should it be in the national security interests of the United States to do so. But the law also lays out an expedited process for lawmakers to vote to overturn the use of that waiver if they can muster veto-proof majorities. In his signing statement of the law, Trump said he would treat these potential congressional limitations on his authority as “advisory and non-binding.”
[Congress clears sanctions bill to punish China over Hong Kong]
“The Chinese government’s aggression merits this swift rebuke,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “Now that the president has signed our Hong Kong Autonomy Act into law, he must impose the sanctions included in our bill. That is the only way to ensure that those involved in the crackdown on Hong Kong will feel the full consequences of their actions.”
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July 15, 2020 at 07:17AM
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Trump signs Hong Kong sanctions law, revokes special trade privileges - Roll Call
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