WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement after China’s ruling Communist Party moved to impose a new security law to strip away critical freedoms in Hong Kong:
“Today is a dark day for Hong Kong and the world. Any illusion that China honors its obligations to respect Hong Kong’s autonomy is shattered by this undemocratic power grab. This is a flagrant violation of China’s binding treaty obligations to respect its 1984 Joint Declaration with Britain, as well as the requirements of Hong Kong’s Basic Law.
“If the National People’s Congress goes through with this brazen assault on Hong Kong’s political autonomy, it will have substantial international reverberations that could greatly damage the special position Hong Kong holds and its economic prosperity. I will continue to stand with Hong Kong’s brave champions of political freedom, as I did last year in pushing for passage of the Ley de derechos humanos y democracia de Hong Kong, and writing the law that bans the U.S. export of crowd control equipment to the Hong Kong police.
“This should also serve as a wake-up call for our global community that authoritarian enemies of freedom the world over will use the pandemic as cover to abuse human rights and crack down on basic liberties. We cannot stay silent in the face of these attacks on the freedoms we all cherish and deserve.”
El Senador Merkley ha sido un firme defensor del apoyo a la libertad y la democracia en Hong Kong. El otoño pasado, el Senador Merkley aprobó con éxito una legislación para prohibir la exportación de municiones para el control de multitudes a Hong Kong en un esfuerzo por ayudar a proteger a los manifestantes pacíficos durante las manifestaciones a favor de la democracia en curso. A principios de este mes, el Senador Merkley se asoció con el Senador Todd Young (R-IN) en un esfuerzo bipartidista para prensa del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos para una estrategia para proteger los derechos humanos en todo el mundo, incluso en Hong Kong, durante la pandemia de coronavirus.
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