The Hong Kong People’s Liberty and Choice Act, which is considered a refuge for Hong Kong residents in exile, was opposed in the Senate last Friday (18) by Republican Congressman Ted Cruz, who expressed concern that it would lead to the inflow of Chinese Communist spies into the United States. There is a good chance that the bill will not pass this session.
The former convener of the New Deal for Youth in Hong Kong, Mr. Leung Chung Hang, who went into exile in the United States earlier this month, and former member of the Legislative Council, Mr. Law Kwun Chung, who is in the United Kingdom, both expressed their disappointment. Leung said he would apply for political asylum there. He said he had expected that the bill could not be passed in this year due to time constraints, and the mechanism for applying for asylum had already existed, so he was not affected. He also said that the existing mechanism also has channels for Hong Kong “hands and feet” to the United States, and he believes that the next U.S. Congress after more detailed discussion, the relevant “lifeboat bill” will be passed with bipartisan support.
He said he was “disappointed” that the bill could not be supported by the U.S. Senate, and that Cruz should have raised his objection out of an anti-refugee stance. He stressed that the bill is to protect the safety of Hong Kong people in the U.S. and to further expedite refugee applications from Hong Kong people in the U.S., so that those in genuine need can be protected. He believes that a similar bill will be introduced in the next U.S. Congress and hopes that a bipartisan consensus will be reached by then.
The director of the Hong Kong Democratic Committee (HKDC), who was instrumental in pushing the bill through Congress, Mok-Man Chu, issued a statement expressing his disappointment, stressing that “fighting the Chinese Communist Party and supporting Hong Kong requires all the tools we can muster. He stressed on Twitter that the HKDC will continue to fight for legislation that protects Hong Kong people in the next Congress.
Members of Congress from both parties have introduced two refugee and immigration protection bills for Hong Kong people, including the Hong Kong People’s Liberty and Choice Act, which was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month, but during consideration in the Senate last Friday (18), Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who visited Hong Kong late last year to support the anti-amendment movement, raised objections that the bills could not be completed in time for the end of the current congressional session.
Cruz, a Republican, is concerned about the infiltration of Chinese communist spies into the United States and opposes the bill’s passage.
Cruz criticized the U.S. Democratic Party for trying to exploit the situation in Hong Kong in order to achieve its long-held goal of wanting to change U.S. immigration laws. Cruz argued that under current U.S. immigration laws, Hong Kong people qualify as refugees, and Trump specifically increased the refugee quota allocation for Hong Kong in July, worrying that the bill would allow many people who cannot prove persecution to obtain refugee status, and that Beijing authorities may arrange for more spies to come to the United States.
The Hong Kong People’s Freedom and Choice Act, spearheaded by Rep. Malinowski, D-N.Y., would provide “temporary protected status” to Hong Kong residents who have visas to the United States but may face political persecution upon their return; speed up the processing of refugee applications; and exclude such applications from the overall annual U.S. refugee quota. It would also speed up the processing of refugee applications and exclude such applications from the overall annual U.S. refugee admissions quota. The bill also separates the immigration limits for Hong Kong from those for mainland China.
Both Liu Zhaojia, vice president of the National Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, and Wilson Chan, secretary-general of the Hong Kong Institute of International Studies, believe that the bill has temporarily hit a wall because it touches on a highly controversial immigration issue in the United States.
Recent Comments