Hong Kong security law: US Senate passes bill to impose sanctions on China
Washington: The US Senate has passed a pair of bills by unanimous consent which would impose sanctions on China for its decision to implement the controversial national security law on Hong Kong that critics have said might erode the city's democratic rights.
One of the bills, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, would impose sanctions on businesses and individuals that help China restrict Hong Kong's autonomy. That bill was authored by GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, reports CNN.
"What the government of China is doing in Hong Kong is unacceptable," Van Hollen told CNN on the floor. "They are taking away the rights of people in Hong Kong. They are snuffing out freedoms that exist there right now."
A second measure from Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley is a resolution condemning China for violating a 1984 agreement to guarantee autonomy for Hong Kong, the American news channel said.
Hawley was quoted as saying by the news channel that a new national security law being adopted by China would "deal a mighty blow to the freedoms and liberties that Hong Kongers have enjoyed for decades now. It's a permanent break from the one country, two systems principle that has governed that city since 1997."
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed over to China in 1997, and the Basic Law preserves its autonomy as a Special Administrative Region under the principle of “one country, two systems”.
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