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U.S. Lawmakers Nominate Hong Kong Protesters For Nobel Peace Prize

By Russell Flannery

Protesters march on the streets against an extradition bill in Hong Kong on June 16, 2019. 

It isn’t easy to get politicians from the two main U.S. political parties to agree on much. 

One common area, however, is often U.S. policy toward China, and today a bipartisan group of American lawmakers released a letter nominating Hong Kong’s pro-democracy moment for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
The move comes at time when U.S.-China relations have been strained by trade and geopolitical tension, and as Beijing’s leaders are straining to control a coronavirus outbreak that has led to more than 400 deaths and 20,000 illnesses and threatens first-quarter economic growth (see related story here).

Representative James P. McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, Representatives Christopher Smith, a New Jersey Republican, Thomas Suozzi, a New York Democrat, and Tom Malinowski, a New Jersey Democrat, as well as Senators Jeffrey Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, Steve Daines, a Montana Republican, and Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, supported the nomination. 

They are all members of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
The full letter is below:

January 31, 2020

Berit Reiss-Andersen
Chair
Nobel Peace Prize Committee
NO-0255 Oslo
Norway

Dear Chair Reiss-Andersen and Members of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee:

We, the undersigned members of the United States Congress, respectfully nominate the pro-democracy movement of Hong Kong to receive the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their efforts to protect Hong Kong’s autonomy, human rights, and the rule of law as guaranteed in the Sino-British Declaration and Hong Kong’s Basic Law.
The pro-democracy movement of Hong Kong has inspired the world as countless and often anonymous individuals risked their lives, their health, their jobs, and their education to support a better future for Hong Kong. 

They have demonstrated civic courage, extraordinary leadership, and an unwavering commitment to a free and democratic Hong Kong that upholds the rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedom.
In March 2019, a series of large-scale, pro-democracy protests began in Hong Kong in opposition to a proposed extradition bill that would have put anyone in Hong Kong at risk of extradition to mainland China, where arbitrary detention, lack of due process, torture, and other serious human rights abuses are well documented. 

The protest on June 16, 2019, included over two million participants out of a total population of approximately 7.5 million people living in Hong Kong, making it one of the largest mass protests in history.
The protesters represent a broad spectrum of Hong Kong society – students, children, retirees, women, teachers, flight attendants, bankers, lawyers, social workers, entrepreneurs, medical professionals, airport staff, migrant domestic workers, and civil servants. 

The entire city is engaged in a movement both unique and inspiring in its size, scope, and creativity. 

The protesters are savvy and have used peaceful and innovative methods of expression including art, music, lasers, projections on buildings, and joining hands across Hong Kong.
The pro-democracy movement made five reasonable demands of the Hong Kong government: 

1) withdraw the extradition bill; 

2) conduct an independent inquiry into the police violence; 

3) drop charges against all arrested protesters; 

4) retract the characterization of the June protests as “riots”; and 

5) the use of universal suffrage to elect the chief executive and legislative council members.
Instead of a pursuing political dialogue and negotiation, the Hong Kong government implemented a crackdown on peaceful protests and used excessive and unnecessary force in contravention of the U.N. Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms for Law Enforcement Officers. 

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an investigation of these incidents. 

The U.S. and the U.K. have both suspended the sale of police and crowd control equipment to Hong Kong.
Numerous individuals and organizations have for decades pressed for greater freedoms in Hong Kong, and the current movement is no exception. 

The pro-democracy movement of the past year has been impressively organized and coherent, yet notably leaderless and flexible. 

For this reason, rather than highlighting an individual or single organization, we wish to nominate the peaceful Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. 

This prize would honor the millions of people in Hong Kong whose bravery and determination have inspired the world.
We deeply appreciated the Nobel Committee’s past willingness to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo in 2010. 

Liu Xiaobo’s unjust imprisonment and ultimately his death is a stark reminder of the sacrifices made by so many people in China who have dared to speak out for their human rights.
We hope that the Nobel Committee will continue to shine a light on those struggling for peace and human rights in China and we believe the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong is more than deserving of recognition this year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi welcomes Hong Kong pro-democracy activists to Capitol

By LISA MASCARO

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday welcomed Hong Kong pro-democracy activists to the U.S. Capitol, sending a message to Beijing that Congress supports the protesters in their months-long campaign for human rights.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is given a lapel pin by a Hong Kong activist following a news conference on human rights in Hong Kong on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. Behind Pelosi is Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong. 

Pelosi thanked the activists for "challenging the conscience," not only of the Chinese government, but the worldwide community with their mass protests over the territory's autonomous status. 

She sided with the protesters' demand for universal suffrage and "a political system accountable to the people." 

And Pelosi warned others in the U.S. government not to allow "commercial interests" to drive foreign policy in the region.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, with Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and other members of Congress during a news conference on human right in Hong Kong on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. 

"If we do not speak up because of commercial interests in support of human rights in China, we lose all moral authority to speak up for them any other place in the world," Pelosi said.
Republicans joined the Democratic leader, alongside several Hong Kong activists who have become prominent figures in the mass protests since June, in a stately room off the House floor beneath a portrait of George Washington.
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas said Americans see the young people waving American flags on the Hong Kong streets. 

"America stands with you," he said.
Several of the activists appeared before Congress this week, appealing to lawmakers to support the mass protests that began with a now shelved proposal to extradite people arrested in Hong Kong to China.
Against the backdrop of the 30-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square uprising, with its brutal and bloody crackdown on young democracy protesters a generation ago, the U.S. lawmakers are prominently backing today's young activists. 

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong called it "a remarkable day" to share the support of the U.S. leaders.
"We will continue our uphill battle until the day we enjoy freedom and democracy," Wong said.
Denise Ho, a singer and pro-democracy activist based in Hong Kong, thanked Pelosi for the "warm welcome" during their visit to the Capitol amid what she called a "very difficult but also very empowering" time in Hong Kong.
"This is a message to the Hong Kong people that we are not isolated in this fight," Ho said. 

"We are in the forefront of this great noble fight for universal values."
During a hearing Tuesday before a U.S. government commission set up by Congress to monitor human rights in China, several activists asked lawmakers to support their efforts by banning the export of American police equipment that is used against demonstrators. 

They also want lawmakers to more closely monitor Chinese efforts to undermine civil liberties in the city.
Republicans and Democrats on the panel, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, expressed their support. 

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said Wednesday the hearing was beamed around the world and "no doubt" watched closely by the Chinese government.
The House is expected to advance legislation that would require the secretary of State to annually review Hong Kong's special economic and trade status, providing a check on the Chinese government's influence and the territory's autonomy.
Pelosi welcomed the Hong Kong government's decision to drop the extradition bill that sparked the protests over summer, but she said Wednesday, "We all know it's not enough. Much more must be done."

The speaker, who has become something of an alternative ambassador on the global stage during her tenure, has a long history of monitoring China from her early years in Congress when she appeared with other lawmakers in Tiananmen Square to pay tribute to the protesters.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, has been allowed certain autonomy and freedoms since it was returned to China in 1997 as a territory, with a "one country, two systems" policy that was supposed to ensure a smooth political transition.
Under U.S. law, the territory of Hong Kong receives special treatment in matters of trade, customs, sanctions enforcement, law enforcement cooperation and more. 

China has benefited from this and used it to evade U.S. export controls and sanctions.
The legislation to be considered by the House from Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., places Beijing on "annual notice" that it will lose Hong Kong's special economic and trade status if its autonomy continues to erode.

Republicans Look to Punish Chinese Leaders Over Hong Kong Crackdown

Senior administration officials and lawmakers are brainstorming ways to punish China for the clampdown in Hong Kong.

By Erin Banco


Donald Trump hasn’t exactly gone after China’s chiefs for cracking down on protesters in Hong Kong. 

Trump said earlier this month that he wanted to see the situation “worked out in a very humanitarian fashion.” 

And over the weekend at the G7 meeting in France he praised again Xi Jinping as a “great leader.”
But behind the scenes, senior officials in the Trump administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are quietly brainstorming ways to officially punish China for the clampdown in Hong Kong and to deter Beijing from deploying military forces to directly and violently confront protesters in the streets, according to three government sources with knowledge of those efforts. 

The wide-ranging discussions—which include the possibility of imposing travel bans and asset freezes on Chinese leaders—come just two weeks after Beijing’s troops began to amass outside Hong Kong.
“Since Day One of this administration, China has been a national security concern. The protests in Hong Kong are just another example of why we should be focusing our attention on finding ways to push back against Beijing,” said one senior administration official. 

“We’ve been taking other routes to confront China, especially economically. This would be another step in the game plan. The draft legislation is in a lot of ways going to look like some of the sanctions we implemented with Russia.”
Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives are in the midst of drafting legislation, after consulting with senior officials in the ranks of the departments of State and Treasury, to introduce legislation that would hit  with sanctions Chinese entities that support the suppression of protests in Hong Kong. 

The legislation would be the first of its kind to address the crackdown head-on by going after some of China’s most influential and well-connected entities. 

Members of Congress have for weeks sought out ways to respond to the Beijing leadership’s role in the clampdown in Hong Kong, fielding expert opinions from experts in the international sanctions and foreign policy fields.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), along with both his Republican and Democrat colleagues in the Senate, re-introduced the Hong Kong and Human Rights Act in June. 

The bill would make it harder for Hong Kong to keep its trade status with the U.S. if it did not maintain autonomy from China. 

Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.
But other lawmakers on the Hill are considering a more direct approach to confronting China.
Three individuals familiar with the effort said lawmakers view the legislation as a way of establishing a “red line” that would deter China from cracking down on protesters in the future by threatening increasingly steep political and financial punishments. 

Two sources said lawmakers are considering a system whereby Congress could review the list of Chinese companies every several years, adding some and losing others depending on the circumstance.
“The administration has been looking at options for some time now,” one senior Trump official said. “But now things are starting to move forward and the legislation on the Hill will crystalize once Congress comes back. We’ve been looking at smart ways to address the crackdown and this is definitely a start.”
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) has looked over draft legislation for new Chinese sanctions and is considering sponsoring some form of it within the next few months, according to two sources familiar.
In July he delivered an 11-minute speech in which he called out the Chinese government for their involvement.
“If the Chinese officials in Beijing, the communists Chinese who rule mainland China, if they have their way, they will extinguish these rights for the people of Hong Kong,” he said. 

Discussions on Capitol Hill are taking place as the U.S. and China continue to engage in a tit-for-tat trade war. 

President Trump said earlier this month that if China used violence in Hong Kong it would “hurt” trade talks.
“For the most part the administration, and the White House in particular, has been trying to keep the trade talks front and center when it comes to China policy,” one senior administration official said. “But really the trade talks and our response to the protests in Hong Kong are tied. The threat of sanctions is really starting to scare China and so we might begin to see trade talks go a little smoother.”

Joshua Wong and other Occupy leaders nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Joshua Wong and fellow activists Nathan Law and Alex Chow have their names put forward to committee in Oslo for their peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to city
By Ng Kang-chung

A US congressional group has nominated Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung and two allies who led the 2014 Occupy protests for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The names of Joshua Wong, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Alex Chow Yong-kang, as well as the entire campaign popularly known as the “umbrella movement”, were put forward to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo by a group of 12 US congressmen.
This is the first time there has been a nominee from Hong Kong.
But the news is likely to ruffle feathers in Beijing, which sees the West’s support of the Hong Kong democracy movement as interference in China’s domestic affairs.
The submission was made “in recognition of [the trio’s] peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to Hong Kong and protect the autonomy and freedom guaranteed Hong Kong in the Sino-British Joint Declaration”, according to a letter by the congressmen to the committee.
According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, qualified nominators include members of national assemblies and national governments, university professors and rectors, as well as former peace prize winners.
If selected, Wong, 21, could become the second youngest Nobel laureate; Law, 24, the third; and Chow, 27, the fifth.
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 at the age of 17, is the youngest to have received the award.
In their letter dated January 31 – the last day of the nomination period – the congressmen highlighted the trio’s “leadership roles” in the Occupy campaign through which “other pro-democracy politicians and supporters … took part in the largest pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong’s history”.
The three activists were also praised for their demonstration of “civic courage, extraordinary leadership and an unwavering commitment to a free and prosperous Hong Kong that upholds the rule of law, political freedoms and human rights”.
The 2014 mass sit-ins saw major roads in downtown Hong Kong blocked by tens of thousands of protesters voicing opposition to Beijing’s restrictive framework on a plan for Hongkongers to elect the city’s leader.
Umbrellas became an icon of the campaign as they were used by protesters to shield themselves against pepper spray by police.
The campaign however ended up going nowhere and was dissolved after 79 days.
Subsequently, some of the key Occupy activists, including Wong, Law and Chow, were charged and jailed for various imaginary offences.
The congressmen said in their letter: “Wong, Law and Chow and the entire ‘umbrella movement’ embody the peaceful aspirations of the people of Hong Kong who yearn to see their autonomy and way of life protected and their democratic aspirations fulfilled.
“The umbrella movement and its leadership are acting in the long tradition of previous Nobel Peace Prize laureates who captured the imagination of their fellow countrymen and sought principled and peaceful change from within.”
The congressmen also highlighted the subsequent jailing of the trio and Law’s disqualification as a lawmaker “after the Chinese central government issued an interpretation of the Basic Law deeming certain previously acceptable oath-taking behaviours … as punishable by disqualification”.
The Basic Law is Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

Republican senator Marco Rubio

“Joshua Wong’s sentiments on Twitter immediately after the announcement of his prison sentence capture well the optimistic and persistent spirit that animates their efforts: ‘The government can lock up our bodies but they cannot lock up our minds! We want democracy in Hong Kong. And we will not give up.’”
The letter was jointly signed by 12 congressmen, including Republican senator Marco Rubio and representative Christopher Smith, as well as four of their colleagues in the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, of which Rubio and Smith are chairman and co-chairman respectively.
Last year, the commission highlighted in its annual report the deterioration of human rights in China and also expressed concern over Hong Kong’s press freedom as well as the disqualification of lawmakers.
Rubio and Smith then also stated their intention to nominate the three activists and the entire “umbrella movement” for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.
Calling the trio “champions of peace and freedom and Hong Kong’s entire pro-democracy movement”, the congressmen also noted the Nobel Committee’s “past willingness to brave the displeasure and outright retribution” of China in awarding the prize to political dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010.
Liu was jailed for what Beijing called “inciting subversion of state power”.
Mainland authorities criticised the awarding of the prize to him as “politically motivated”.
The laureate was barred from going to accept his prize.
His absence was marked at the ceremony by an empty chair.
Liu died last year, becoming the first Nobel Peace Prize recipient to perish in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who died in 1938 after years in a Nazi concentration camp.
The Nobel laureates are to be selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Winners will be announced in October, with the awards ceremony in December.
Law Yuk-kai, director of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, said the trio deserved the recognition.
“Participants in the ‘umbrella movement’ insisted on making the campaign peaceful and orderly – that deserves international recognition,” Law said.
“If they win the prize, Hong Kong’s social movements will enjoy the moral high ground.”