Chris Smith: “I thank my good friend for yielding, and I thank him for his leadership, as well as the leadership of Mr. Meeks and, of…”

“I thank my good friend for yielding, and I thank him for his leadership, as well as the leadership of Mr. Meeks and, of course, Chairman McCaul. As the prime author of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which I first introduced in 2014 when the umbrella revolution was occurring, many of us thought that if we did not take definitive actions, then Hong Kong would be lost. Unfortunately, Congress refused for years to bring up that bill. We did get it enacted into law, but it was a day late and a dollar short. However, this legislation, H.R. 1103, is a necessary next step in tangibly demonstrating our solidarity with the persecuted citizens of Hong Kong. I want to thank Jim McGovern, my friend and colleague, for cosponsoring it. It is a bipartisan bill, and, again, I appreciate Mr. Meeks' statement just a moment ago. At one time, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in the United States represented a city whose prosperity was based on its protection of fundamental human rights and freedom of the Hong Kong people. The U.S. gifted these offices, commonly known as HKETOs for short, with diplomatic privileges and immunities on the assumption that Hong Kong would remain free from Communist rule. However, 3 years after the CCP imposed the national security law on Hong Kong, we must deal with this new reality. The Hong Kong all of us knew, loved, and respected is gone.…”