国会休假期间，香港一直动荡不安。起初反对引渡立法的抗议已经发展成更大规模的运动——一场反对中国大陆蔓延影响的群众运动，让活动人士与北京及其在香港的客户政府的力量对抗。

这是一个真正现代的抗议。群龙无首，人群使用留言板和加密的信息应用相互引导。大型游行和和平静坐被记录下来，并在推特、脸书和Instagram上分享，向世界传递抗议者的信息。

香港警方及其盟友的不妥协和暴力行为也被实时捕捉并传播到全球，引起国际社会的同情和愤慨。

抗议者还携带着美国和英国国旗他挥舞着它们作为对中国统治这个前英国殖民地的直接挑战。这些旗帜象征着香港人民如此渴望的政治自由，但也用来吸引国际观众的注意力。

外国支持可以在香港的权力走廊和街道上产生真正的影响。例如，在日本20国集团(G20)峰会之前，活动人士筹集了数十万美元，用于在世界主要报纸上开展大规模宣传活动，敦促各国”在G20会议上与香港站在一起。"

虽然香港行政长官林郑月娥完全撤回议案，这只是抗议者的五项要求之一。活动人士还希望林下台，对警察暴行进行独立调查，赦免所有被捕者，并在香港实行普选。

香港政府——在北京的坚定支持下——不太可能屈服于所有剩余的四项要求，不管抗议运动给人留下多么深刻的印象。但国际支持对于确保政府不诉诸更激烈的镇压手段至关重要。

两党合作的项目

美国议员普遍支持香港的抗议者。在参议院和众议院，两党领导人都赞扬了活动人士对人权、政府问责和民主的追求。

唐纳德·特朗普总统甚至加入了进来，尽管一些观察家认为他在支持抗议者方面做得还不够。上个月，特朗普呼吁习近平主席人道地处理香港问题或者冒着未来结束华盛顿和北京正在进行的贸易战的协议破裂的风险，尽管正在进行的讨论证明是徒劳的。

新的立法草案2019年香港人权和民主法案——现在可以赋予立法者对侵犯人权、破坏香港自治的中国和香港官员实施制裁的能力。在分裂的华盛顿，支持站在中国崛起前线的民主活动家提供了一个罕见的两党合作项目。

这项立法将是迄今为止对该运动最重要的国际支持，无疑也将引起寻求镇压骚乱的亲北京官员的担忧。

下图由提供Statista，显示了香港行政长官林郑月娥上任后的两年内，对她的支持率急剧下降。

这是该法案第四次提出。第一次迭代是在2014年，在支持民主的伞运动中。它在2016年和2017年再次被提出，但也没有通过国会。但随着国际社会对香港的关注以及华盛顿和北京之间关系冷淡，2019年似乎是迄今为止最好的机会。

该法案的发起人包括新泽西共和党众议员克里斯·史密斯和佛罗里达州共和党参议员马尔科·卢比奥。

当他们的同事准备返回希尔时，立法者正在敦促国会通过立法成为法律。

在发送到的电子邮件中新闻周刊鲁比奥解释说，这项立法将“针对破坏香港自治的官员，并通过制裁追究他们的责任。”他强调，美国有必要“捍卫香港从北京获得的自治，维护该地区的人权”

该法案的主要提案人史密斯表示，该法案非常有力，“向受到北京镇压威胁的热爱自由的香港人民发出了强烈的支持信息。”

他补充说:「我们在九月返港后，国会必须尽快通过这项条例草案，并向世界显示，我们与香港市民团结一致，他们正寻求维持中国共产党承诺的自治和基本自由。」。

尽管史密斯对引渡法案的撤销表示欢迎，但他指出，这一运动已经远远超出了最初的不满。他说:「示威已成为香港自由和自治的未来。」。

“解决这些不满需要的不仅仅是撤回引渡法案。香港人不满的根源是开放社会和政治喘息空间的萎缩。要恢复信任和“一国两制”模式，这些都是必须承认和解决的问题。”

史密斯对警方越来越多地使用暴力试图镇压该运动以及北京方面的“一再干预威胁”表示担忧。“只有香港和中国内地政府应对抗议者表达的合理不满负责，只有它们才能通过满足他们的要求来结束抗议，”他补充道。

如果立法通过，将会给中国政府更多的弹药来把抗议描绘成西方主导的暴乱史密斯认为这是“懦弱的宣传”

“香港人正在为自由而战”

香港民主民主组织的首席研究员、该组织的美国代表杰弗里Ngo告诉记者新闻周刊西方对反政府运动的支持对抗议者来说是一个可喜的恩惠。

“总的来说，我想说香港人希望看到国际社会给予更多的支持，即使只是直言不讳，”Ngo解释说。

A群众示威周日在美国领事馆证明了Ngo的观点。数万名抗议者淹没了设施周围的地区，挥舞着美国国旗和标语牌，呼吁国会和特朗普政府给予他们更多支持，并通过该法案。

非政府组织承认美国领导人公开反对中国，并强调该领土上发生的事情应该引起国际社会的关注。

他说:「香港是一个非常国际化的地区，许多国家在香港都有金融和经济利益。」。「我希望看到更多国家大声疾呼，维护香港在世界上的角色。」

Ngo表示，如果该法案获得通过，将“非常有助于”向香港精英施压，许多人认为香港精英在享受香港生活带来的金融和政治自由的同时，也助长了北京方面的侵犯。

“普通香港人感到沮丧的是，对把香港变成另一个中国城市和抹杀香港在世界上的独特性负有最大责任的人，往往也是在国外拥有公民身份或居住权的人，”Ngo说。

他补充说:「因此，如果香港被毁灭，没有后备选择的香港人将面临那些有后备选择的人所采取行动的后果。」。

“我认为，这些人——例如政府官员、一些保持沉默的商界人士——听从北京的吩咐，损害香港作为自由城市的声誉，但却享受到能够在西方民主国家居住、生活或退休的好处，这也是不可接受的。”

这些国家——尤其是美国和英国——Ngo强调，“应该捍卫自己国家的价值观，并说如果这些人在香港不捍卫这些价值观，那么他们就应该面临后果。

 

'HONG KONGERS SHOULD BE ALLIES OF THE UNITED STATES': CONGRESS URGED TO ENABLE SANCTIONS AGAINST CHINESE OFFICIALS WHO THREATEN TERRITORY'S AUTONOMY

While Congress has been on vacation, Hong Kong has been convulsing. What began as a protest against extradition legislation has grown into something much bigger—a mass movement against creeping influence from mainland China pitting activists against the might of Beijing and its client government in Hong Kong.

This is a truly modern protest. Leaderless, the crowds direct each other using message boards and encrypted messaging apps. The huge marches and peaceful sit-ins are documented and shared on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, transmitting the protesters' message to the world.

The intransigence and violence of Hong Kong police and their allies is also captured in real-time and spread around the globe, eliciting sympathy and outrage from the international community.

Protesters have also been carrying American and British flags, brandishing them as a direct challenge to China's rule over the former British colony. The flags symbolize the kind of political freedom's Hong Kong people so desperately want, but are also used to grab the attention of international audiences.

Foreign support can have a real impact, both in the corridors of power and on the streets in Hong Kong. Ahead of the G20 summit in Japan, for example, activists crowdfunded hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for a mass awareness campaign in the world's major newspapers, urging nations to "Stand with Hong Kong at G20."

Though Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has fully withdrawn the bill, this is but one of the five demands of the protesters. Activists also want Lam to step down, an independent inquiry into police brutality, amnesty for all those arrested and universal suffrage in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government—with Beijing standing firm behind it—is unlikely to give in to all four remaining demands, no matter how impressive the protest movement. But international support will be vital in ensuring the government does not resort to more drastic means of suppression.

A bipartisan project

U.S. lawmakers have been universally supportive of the protesters in Hong Kong. In the Senate, and in the House, leaders of both parties have praised the activists for their pursuit of human rights, government accountability and democracy.

President Donald Trump has even weighed in, though some observers have argued he has not done nearly enough to support the protesters. Last month, Trump called on President Xi Jinping to approach the Hong Kong issue humanely or risk the collapse of a future deal to end the ongoing trade war Washington and Beijing, though ongoing discussions are proving fruitless.

New draft legislation—the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019—could now give lawmakers the ability to impose sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials who commit human rights abuses and undermine the territory's autonomy. In a divided Washington, support for pro-democracy activists on the front line of China's rise offers a rare bipartisan project.

The legislation would represent the most significant international support of the movement to date, and will no doubt be cause for concern among the pro-Beijing officials seeking to suppress the unrest.

The graph below, provided by Statista, shows how support for Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has plummeted in the two years since she assumed office.

This is the fourth time the bill has been introduced. The first iteration was in 2014, amid the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement. It was brought forward again in 2016 and 2017, but also did not make its way through Congress. But with the international focus on Hong Kong and frosty relations between Washington and Beijing, 2019 looks like its best chance yet.

Among the sponsors of the act are New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith and Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio.

As their colleagues prepared to return to The Hill, the lawmakers are urging Congress to pass the legislation into law.

In an email sent to Newsweek, Rubio explained that the legislation would "target officials who have undermined Hong Kong's autonomy and hold them accountable through the use of sanctions." He stressed the need for the U.S. to "defend Hong Kong's autonomy from Beijing and uphold the defense of human rights in the region."

Smith—the prime sponsor of the bill—said the legislation was robust and "sends a strong message of support to the freedom loving people of Hong Kong who are threatened by Beijing's crackdown."

"Congress must pass the bill as soon as we return in September and show the world that we stand united with the people of Hong Kong who are rightly seeking to maintain the autonomy and fundamental freedoms promised them by the Chinese Communist Party," he added.

Though Smith welcomed the withdrawal of the extradition bill, he noted that the movement has grown far beyond the initial grievance. "The demonstrations have become about the future of Hong Kong's freedoms and autonomy," he said.

"Addressing these grievances will take more than a withdrawn extradition bill. The root of the Hong Kong people's dissatisfaction is the shrinking of its open society and political breathing space. These are the things that must be recognized and addressed for trust and the 'One Country, two systems' model to be restored."

Smith voiced concern at the increasing violence used by police to try and suppress the movement and the "repeated threats of intervention" from Beijing. "The Hong Kong and mainland Chinese governments are alone responsible for the legitimate grievances expressed by the protesters and they alone can end the protests by addressing their demands," he added.

If the legislation passes, it will give the Chinese government more ammunition to paint the protests as Western-directed rioting, a suggestion Smith dismissed as "cowardly propaganda."

"Hong Kongers are fighting for freedom"

Jeffrey Ngo, chief researcher for the pro-democracy Demosisto organization in Hong Kong and the group's U.S. representative, told Newsweek that Western support for the anti-government movement would be a welcome boon to protesters.

"Overall, I would say that Hong Kongers would love to have seen more support from the international community, even just speaking out," Ngo explained.

A mass demonstration at the U.S. consulate on Sunday proves Ngo's point. Tens of thousands of protesters swamped the area around the facility, waving American flags and placards calling for Congress and the Trump administration to lend them more support and pass the bill.

Ngo acknowledged that U.S. leaders have spoken out against China, and stressed that what is happening in the territory should concern the international community.

"Hong Kong is a very cosmopolitan territory, and many countries have financial and economic stakes in Hong Kong," he said. "I would love to have seen more countries being vocal about safeguarding Hong Kong's role in the world."

If the legislation passes, Ngo suggested it "would be tremendously helpful" in pressuring Hong Kong's elites, perceived by many as facilitating Beijing's encroachment while also enjoying the financial and political freedoms afforded by living in the territory.

"The frustration for ordinary Hong Kongers is that the people who are most responsible for turning Hong Kong into just another Chinese city and erasing Hong Kong's uniqueness in the world, tend to also be the people who have citizenship or residency abroad," Ngo said.

"So Hong Kongers who have no backup option should Hong Kong be ruined are facing the consequences of the actions of those who do have this kind of back-up option," he added.

"It is also just unacceptable, I think, for these kind of individuals—for example government officials, some of the business community that have remained silent—to do Beijing's bidding and erode Hong Kong's reputation as a liberal city, but then enjoy the benefits of being able to reside, or to live or to retire in democratic countries in the West."

These nations—particularly the U.S. and U.K.—Ngo stressed, "should stand up for the values of their countries and say that if those values are not defended in Hong Kong by these individuals then they should face consequences."