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.

Sacred Union

U.S. politicians embrace Hong Kong’s struggle
By Ishaan Tharoor

For close to four months, protests have raged in Hong Kong. 

During that time, Trump has been a somewhat inconspicuous bystander. 

In August, he described the upheaval as “a very tough situation” but praised Chinese dictator Xi Jinping for acting “very responsibly” — no matter the reports of excessive police brutality and Chinese troop buildups along Hong Kong’s border with the mainland.

Trump’s former top diplomat in Hong Kong even described the protests earlier this summer as a “second-tier” matter.
But that’s hardly the view in the rest of Washington. 

Antipathy toward China marks one of the few sources of bipartisan consensus in the fractious capital. 

On Tuesday, the plight of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters took center stage at a hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. 

The panel’s participants — a selection of notable Hong Kong activists and scholars — and the lawmakers in attendance stressed their commitment to Hong Kong’s democracy struggle and distaste for Chinese authoritarianism.


Rep. Jim McGovern
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HAPPENING NOW: The@CECCgov is holding a hearing on #HongKong.

Watch live at the link below https://twitter.com/ceccgov/status/1173936636989718529 …

China Commission
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WATCH #HONGKONG HEARING: Hearing will be livestreamed on the @CECCgov
YouTube Channel and also broadcast live on @cspan
on #CSPAN3 and C-SPAN Radio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQJZTi-XRls&fbclid=IwAR2tiQnuttwbaySbRq7A-OTW8qyY-bYUnj3dtoc-bjTCf0GjoFGQZMJgKyg …
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“China’s leaders must respect Hong Kong’s autonomy or know that their escalating actions will lead them to face real consequences, not just from the United States but from the free world,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), one of the co-chairs of the commission and a prominent Beijing critic.
Though the city’s Beijing-backed chief executive, Carrie Lam, ultimately heeded protesters’ calls to withdraw a controversial extradition bill, that has done little to satisfy their broader demands. 

Hong Kong protesters are furious about the thuggish behavior of the city’s police force and, more significantly, determined to halt what they see as an erosion of their long-standing freedoms and democratic aspirations.
American lawmakers echoed that disquiet at the hearing and cast the protest movement at the vanguard of an epochal battle. 

It’s common to speak of Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” model, said Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.), but it also highlights “one world, two models” — that of Hong Kong’s open society, marked by civil liberties and rule of law, and that of China, an authoritarian state whose leadership is perfecting 21st-century methods of surveillance and repression. 

Sen. Todd C. Young (R-Ind.) said China’s rulers may style themselves as “communist” but that they “are really fascist in behavior.”
“With the unrest in Hong Kong showing no sign of abating despite limited concessions by the city’s government, attention has shifted to what the West can or should do to influence the situation,” wrote my colleague Shibani Mahtani. 

“Protesters have been lobbying the U.S. government to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which seeks to impose sanctions such as asset freezes and visa bans on those found to be ‘suppressing basic freedoms’ in Hong Kong.”
The bill, which is pending in the House and Senate, is likely to pass, and Trump has indicated that he will sign it into law. 

It would call for an annual review of the special relationship between the United States and Hong Kong, which allows a host of trade and business privileges that do not extend to mainland China. This relationship has, in part, enabled Hong Kong to become Asia’s financial capital — a position that became only more entrenched after Britain’s handover of its former colony to China in 1997.
Now, U.S. officials and Hong Kong activists say further attacks on Hong Kong freedoms — let alone a feared cross-border incursion from Chinese police or military forces — ought to bring that special relationship into question.
“Beijing shouldn’t have it both ways, reaping all the economic benefits of Hong Kong’s standing in the world while eradicating our freedoms,” Joshua Wong, a Hong Kong activist and veteran of the 2014 “umbrella revolution” protests, said at the hearing. 

He added that “our most important demand is genuine structural change in Hong Kong, which means free elections. Our government’s lack of representation lies at the heart of the matter.”


SCMP News
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100 days have passed since the first mass march against the now-abandoned extradition bill in June. Since then, 2,414 rounds of tear gas have been fired and 1,453 protesters have been arrested.

6:05 PM - Sep 17, 2019
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There’s no sign that Xi Jinping would ever entertain allowing such political reform. 

In his years in office, Xi has built a legacy of ruthless power consolidation, purging party foes, squeezing the space for civil society and exporting China’s technologies of control to countries around the world. 

Under his watch, more than a million Turkic Muslims in the far-west colony of East Turkestan have vanished into concentration camps. 

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy champions see themselves holding the line against an increasingly totalitarian advance.
“Through the challenges of Hong Kong, the West is waking up to China’s insinuating power in a global scale,” said Denise Ho, another prominent pro-democracy activist at the hearing. 

What happens next is uncertain. 

The protests will enter a critical period for Beijing. 

Oct. 1 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the people’s republic, an occasion Xi and his cohort would not want clouded by scenes of chaos in the wealthiest Chinese city.
Sunny Cheung, a Hong Kong student leader at the hearing, said he doubted Chinese authorities would, at least in the near term, deploy outside forces or impose emergency law on Hong Kong. 

Such methods 30 years after the brutal crackdown at Tiananmen Square would “not be promising for the Beijing government,” he said.
Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China, invoked a saying by Mao Zedong to sum up the spirit of Hong Kong’s dissenters: “Wherever there is suppression, there will be resistance.”

'This is a plea for democracy': Hong Kong protest leaders urge US lawmakers to take action

Joshua Wong, Denise Ho testify before US congressmen, call for passage of Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act

By Micah McCartney

Joshua Wong testifies in Washington D.C. Sept. 17 (Taken from Congressional-Executive Commission on China livestream)

Denise Ho (From Congressional-Executive Commission on China livestream)

TAIPEI — Pro-democracy Hong Kong activists Joshua Wong and Denise Ho testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday (Sept. 17), pleading with lawmakers to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which would impose consequences on China in the case of a brutal crackdown and further erosion of the city's autonomy.
Two of the most visible faces of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, Joshua Wong and Cantonese pop star Denise Ho, met a bipartisan group of U.S. congressmen on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. They spoke out about the deteriorating freedoms in Hong Kong and lobbied for the passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
The hearing, entitled "Hong Kong's Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses," was held by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and presided over by Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).
In his opening remarks, McGovern lauded Hongkongers as an inspiration to the world for risking their education, jobs, and even lives in the tireless resistance. 

Condemning Hong Kong authorities' vicious response to the protests, he asserted that U.S. companies should not be abetting police's use of excessive force by exporting crowd-control equipment such as tear gas, a position reflected in the Protect Hong Kong Act he and Rep. Smith jointly authored.
Senator Rubio, a co-sponsor of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, called the protests "one of the greatest people power movements we have witnessed in recent memory." 

He went on slam Hong Kong Chief Executive Lam over her refusal to heed millions of Hongkongers and singled out brutal acts of violence that police either perpetrated or were complicit in through inaction.
Rubio expressed outraged over reports of police officers spraying pepper spray onto the head wound of a downed protester. 

The senator also mentioned the pro-Beijing thugs who have since July been indiscriminately attacking the city's residents while police stood by and did nothing.
According to Rubio, the preservation of the "one country, two systems" framework agreed to by China prior to Hong Kong's 1997 handover is important to American interests. 

He said a response to the erosion of this system was "long overdue," warning China that, "escalating aggression will lead [China] to face real consequences, not just from the United States but from the free world."

Representative Smith said that Hong Kong's people have put a spotlight on what he called "Beijing's pernicious, repressive behavior" and cited additional instances of China's human rights abuses and malign influence in Taiwan, Tibet, and East Turkestan colony. 

The congressman expressed incredulity over the opposition of U.S. diplomats, so-called "experts", and business leaders against substantive legislation against the communist regime.
Smith also stressed the importance of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which would not only make Hong Kong's special economic status contingent on an annual State Department report on the state of Hong Kong's autonomy but would also require the president to sanction China and Hong Kong officials responsible for human rights violations in the city.
In his statement to the lawmakers, Joshua Wong remarked that instead of "one country, two systems," the semi-autonomous region is fast approaching a reality of "one country, one system."
The 22-year-old Demosisto leader praised the Protect Hong Kong Act and noted that most of the tear gas, bean bag rounds, and other equipment used by Hong Kong police had been imported from Western democratic states. 

Companies should not benefit from the crackdown on Hong Kong people, said Wong.
As for Hong Kong's special financial status, Wong said, "Beijing should not have it both ways – ​​​​​​​ reaping all the economic benefits of Hong Kong's standing in the world while [eroding] our freedom." 

He then called on Congress to stand on the right side of "human rights and democracy."
Singer-turned-activist Denise Ho joined Wong in demanding swift action from the United States. 

Ho, herself blacklisted in China for her anti-CCP views, pointed to its no-tolerance policy toward dissent, with celebrities from Hong Kong and Taiwan under pressure to do lip service to "unanimous support" to the communist government in exchange for access to the Chinese market.
Ho warned that China is already exporting its brand of censorship to other countries. 

If Hong Kong is suppressed, she cautioned, it could "become a springboard" for the country to spread its agenda throughout the world.
"This is a plea for democracy," Ho urged. 

"This is a plea for the freedom to choose."

World's Stupidest President

As Trump woos Xi Jinping, Dalai Lama has to wait on the sidelines
By Ryan Woo and Sanjeev Miglani | BEIJING/NEW DELHI

The Dalai Lama greets U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during the Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize award ceremony in the Capitol in Washington October 6, 2009.

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama speaks at a press conference after delivering teachings at Yiga Choezin, in Tawang, in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, India April 8, 2017.

The Dalai Lama looks up toward the head table, where U.S. President Barack Obama was seated, during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, February 5, 2015.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (C) walks outside the White House after his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington February 18, 2010.

When Donald Trump was elected in November, the Dalai Lama said he was keen to meet the incoming U.S. president, but since then Trump has cozied up to Xi Jinping, making it less likely the man Beijing deems a separatist will get an invite to the White House anytime soon.
The United States has long recognised Tibet as part of the People's Republic of China, and does not back Tibetan independence. 

But that has not deterred all the recent U.S. presidents before Trump from meeting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
The United States is widely seen as the last major Western power that has still held meetings with the Dalai Lama despite Beijing's objections that such encounters foment separatism.
In past meetings, the U.S. had consistently voiced support for the protection of human rights of Tibetans in China, and called for formal talks between Beijing and the Dalai Lama and his representatives.
At a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday, China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang reiterated that China resolutely opposes any foreign country allowing the Dalai Lama to visit or any foreign official having any form of exchange with him. 

He did not say whether China had specifically requested Trump not meet the Dalai Lama.
A U.S. State Department spokeswoman and a White House official referred Reuters to the Dalai Lama's office when asked whether the Tibetan spiritual leader and his representatives had asked for a meeting with Trump and whether any such meetings were planned.
"His Holiness was supposed to go (to the U.S.) in April, but it was postponed," Lobsang Sangay, head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, told Reuters.
That trip has been delayed until June due to a hectic schedule in the preceding months that had left the Dalai Lama physically exhausted, Sangay said, adding that Washington D.C. wouldn't be part of the June itinerary.
The office of the Dalai Lama hasn't reached out to Trump to arrange a meeting yet, he said.
The Dalai Lama is taking a more considered approach with regard to any meeting with Trump, said a source with knowledge of the thinking of the winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize.
The unpredictable U.S. president upset protocol in December when weeks before being sworn into office he took a telephone call from the leader of self-ruled Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province, only to last week rebuff Taiwanese suggestions of another call.
In the interim, Trump has met and phoned Xi, and says he has built a strong relationship with the Chinese leader.
He called Xi "a friend of mine" who was "doing an amazing job as a leader" in an interview with Reuters last week, and praised him for trying to rein in nuclear-armed North Korea. 

In return, the Chinese president has invited Trump to visit China this year.
In mid-2008, then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met the Dalai Lama, to the anger of Beijing. 

Months later, the British Foreign Secretary at that time David Miliband ditched Britain's near century-long position on Tibet, describing it as an "anachronism", and explicitly recognised Tibet as part of China.
Based on treaties signed at the turn of the 20th century by British-administered India and Tibet, Britain had previously said it would recognise China's "special position" in Tibet on the condition that Tibet was given significant autonomy.

SILENCE FROM TRUMP
Chinese troops took control of Tibet in 1950 in what Beijing calls a "peaceful liberation". 

Nine years later, the Dalai Lama fled to India after an abortive uprising and set up a government in exile, which China does not recognise.
China sees the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist in a monk's robes, even though the Dalai Lama says he wants autonomy for his homeland, not outright independence. 

There have been no formal talks between Beijing and the Dalai Lama's representatives since 2010.
China stamps on the religious and cultural rights of Tibetans.

Trump has been silent on Tibetan issues.
"The main change is that the U.S. approach on Tibet seems likely to become more transactional and therefore less consistent," said Robbie Barnett, director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University.
"It seems set to become more a question of contingency, dependent on how he calculates his relationship with China at any one moment."
Earlier this week, Democratic U.S. Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts called for a new U.S. policy towards Tibet to safeguard the identity of the Tibetan people and hold China accountable for human rights abuses.
The Dalai Lama will next week receive a U.S. Congressional delegation led by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi at his base in northern India, his government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration, said on Friday. 

The visit represents a bipartisan gesture of support that is likely to rile Beijing.
The prime minister of the government-in-exile said he is still hopeful that the United States will continue to support Tibetan issues and push for talks between the Dalai Lama's representatives and Beijing.
But he said they were prepared for any upsets.
"We are Buddhists, we believe in impermanence. You just go with your karma and whatever happens, happens, because we have seen the worst, the occupation of our country," said Sangay, who is planning a trip to Washington at the end of May.