Speech by U.S. Senator Josh Hawley on Hong Kong Democracy and Human Rights Act

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — U.S. SENATE November 19, 2019

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley for Missouri

"I want to be clear that we are here today in this Chamber, and what we are doing is possible tonight because of the bravery and the courage of the protesters in Hong Kong.

Many of them are very young people who are risking their very lives, taking to the streets, standing for democracy, standing for the promises that were made to them by Beijing many years ago and fighting for them now, putting everything on the line. And I just want to say to those protesters that you are making a difference, that your lives have made a difference, and to those who even now are trapped inside PolyU in this siege that the Hong Kong police force has created—this humanitarian crisis that the Hong Kong police force has fostered—what you are doing is inspiring the world. What you are doing has moved this body. What you are doing is changing the world. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your bravery. Thank you for believing in your city, and thank you for believing in Hong Kong.

The other thing I would say is that, while today is a good day in the struggle to preserve the freedoms of this city and the struggle against a totalitarian regime in Beijing, it is not the last day. Although this step is an important step that this Chamber takes, it is not the last step that this Nation may need to take in order to hold China to its commitments made in 1984, in order to protect the autonomy and the liberty of the city of Hong Kong because, make no mistake, we are in for a long struggle with Com- munist China. We are in for a long struggle with Beijing. We know what their ambitions are: to dominate Hong Kong, to dominate Taiwan, to dominate the region and, ultimately, to impose their will on the entire international system. We are going to have to stand against that for freedom, for liberty, for our security and our prosperity.

So there is much to do. There is a long road ahead of us, but today is a good day, and I hope the people of Hong Kong will see that the people of the free world are awake, that they are with you, and we are ready to stand together.