§5725 Secretary of State Report Regarding the Autonomy of Hong Kong

Summary

Each year, and together with another required report, the Secretary of State must tell Congress whether Hong Kong should keep getting the same treatment under U.S. law that it had before July 1, 1997. The report covers many areas such as trade deals; police cooperation and extradition; sanctions and export controls, including sensitive technology; treaties and other U.S.–Hong Kong cooperation; how Hong Kong’s government makes decisions and basic freedoms (assembly, speech, expression, press, internet and social media); voting and the goal of electing the Chief Executive and Legislative Council by universal suffrage; judicial independence; police and security; education; laws about treason, secession, sedition, subversion, or state secrets; rules about foreign or local political groups; and other human rights named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Secretary must say whether actions by the People’s Republic of China have reduced Hong Kong’s autonomy in these areas in ways that conflict with the Basic Law or the Joint Declaration, explain how any loss of autonomy affects U.S.–Hong Kong cooperation, and list U.S. actions taken in response. The Secretary should take the Joint Declaration into account when making the report. The report is required every year, but the Secretary can issue extra reports if needed. The Secretary may skip the report or parts of it if doing so is necessary for U.S. national security, but must notify the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee on or before the day the waiver starts. If the President issues an executive order that suspends particular U.S. laws for Hong Kong, the Secretary may waive the affected parts of the report, but must still include the list of U.S. actions already taken.