Lawmakers Urge Administration to More Quickly Impose Sanctions, Export Controls for Chinese Interference in Hong Kong

U.S. lawmakers and sanctions experts said the administration should move faster to impose sanctions on China for interference in Hong Kong and increase export controls on critical technologies and crowd control equipment. Democratic and Republican senators said they would back a bill introduced in the Senate this week that would sanction Chinese officials and foreign banks, while experts called for a focused, multilateral sanctions approach to minimize impacts on Hong Kong citizens and U.S. companies.

“There's bipartisan interest in getting legislation like this done as soon as possible,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., speaking during a Senate Banking Committee hearing about the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (see 2005260031). Several senators said during the hearing that they back the bill and criticized President Donald Trump for not moving quickly enough to enact sanctions under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used the act last week to certify that Hong Kong was no longer autonomous from China, and Trump vowed to sanction Chinese officials and increase export controls (see 2005290047).

“President Trump could use these authorities tomorrow,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said during the hearing. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said Trump has yet to make “clear exactly what he will do” to sanction China, and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said the administration is “apparently ... unwilling to move forward” on the sanctions. “The Trump administration has lots of existing authorities that in my view, they need to be implementing and implementing right now,” he said.

Brown said he believes Trump is still weighing the consequences of imposing sanctions, which could further jeopardize U.S.-China relations. Brown criticized Trump’s “reluctance to challenge Chinese leaders for fear of putting his trade deal at risk,” adding that Congress should “press the White House to do its job.” The White House declined to comment.

The U.S. has signaled to China that it will excuse certain actions if progress is made on trade, said Peter Harrell, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a former State Department sanctions official.

“We have, as a country, taken a much lighter hand with respect to Chinese abuses of human rights and democracy, and I think this has sent a message to China,” Harrell said. “As long as it gives the United States a couple of things President Trump wants on the trade front with his phase one trade deal, it will have a fairly free hand with respect to cracking down on human rights and democracy.”

The U.S. needs to introduce targeted export controls, Harrell said, including restrictions on shipments of surveillance equipment to Hong Kong. The U.S. should also permanently enforce a ban on exports of rubber bullets, tear gas and other crowd control items, he said. Trump signed a bill in November that imposed a one-year ban on certain crowd control exports to Hong Kong (see 1911290012).

If the U.S. does not impose stricter export controls, Beijing will be able to more easily divert shipments from Hong Kong as it tightens its control on the region, said Eric Lorber, a sanctions expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “As China takes more and more control ... the likelihood of those export-controlled goods being sent on to China is increasingly significant,” said Lorber, a former sanctions official at the Treasury Department. “I do think that creating symmetry between Hong Kong and China, in terms of export controls, makes a lot of sense.”

The experts also cautioned lawmakers about imposing overly broad, unilateral sanctions that could hurt Hong Kong and U.S. companies. Lorber said U.S. actions need to be coordinated with allies, adding that the administration needs “sustained diplomatic outreach with other countries who have vested interests” in Hong Kong. But Michael Martin, an Asian Affairs expert with the Congressional Research Service, said sanctions will inevitably impact parts of industry.

“For large Hong Kong companies, they have options … they can relocate,” Martin said. “The people I’m particularly concerned about … are small and medium-sized Hong Kong entrepreneurs and U.S. entrepreneurs who may not have an alternative on where else they can go.” Lee Cheuk Yan, a Hong Kong social activist and general secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, said many in Hong Kong are bracing for the impact of sanctions. “I think people are ready in a way -- sadly -- for the economy to be hurt,” he said.