Good morning Chairman McGovern, Co-Chairman Rubio, and members of this Commission:

早上好，麦戈文主席，联合主席鲁比奥和委员会成员：

It’s an honor to be invited back to Capitol Hill to speak about developments in Hong Kong. You may recall that I last traveled to Washington more than two years ago and testified before this commission, in this same building, on May 3, 2017.

能够再次被邀请到国会大厦谈论香港的发展，我感到很荣幸。各位可能还记得我上次在两年多前到过华盛顿，并在2017年5月3日在同一栋大楼、同一委员会上作证。

At the time, I warned about the probable disqualification of my friend Nathan Law, who had been Asia’s youngest democratically-elected legislator and who is in the audience this morning.

当时我警告，我的朋友罗冠聪可能被取消立法会议员资格，他是亚洲最年轻的民选立法会议员，他今天也在观众席上。

I also warned about massive political prosecution. Unfortunately, both materialized: Nathan lost his seat that July, and we were both imprisoned in August for our roles in the Umbrella Movement. Further legal troublers in relation to the 2014 protests prevented me from traveling abroad.

我还预警过大规模的政治逼害。不幸的是，两者都实现了：罗冠聪在当年的7月份失去了席位，我们因为参与雨伞运动而于8月被判监。与2014年抗议活动有关的进一步法律纠纷使我无法出国旅行。

While I said then that Hong Kong’s “One Country, Two Systems” was becoming “One Country, One-and-a-Half Systems,” I don’t think there is any doubt among observers who have followed recent events that, today, we are approaching dangerously close to “One Country, One System.”

我当时曾说香港的“一国两制”正在变成“一国一点五制”，但我认为，任何关注近期局势发展的观察家都不会怀疑，今天我们距离“一国一制”已是触手可及。

The present state of affairs reveals Beijing’s utter inability to understand, let alone govern, a free society.

目前的情况表明，北京完全无法理解，更不用说治理自由社会了。

The ongoing demonstrations began on June 9 when one million Hong Kongers took to the streets in protest of proposed legislation that would’ve allowed criminal suspects to be extradited from Hong Kong to China, where there are no guarantees of the rule of law. Still, before the night had even ended, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the bill’s reading would resume in three days. Hong Kongers were bracing for their last fight on June 12.

这场抗争由6月9日开始，当时有100万香港人走上街头，抗议政府建议修订《逃犯条例》，允许疑犯从香港引渡到中国大陆——一个无法治保障之地。不过，在当晚深夜，行政长官林郑月娥宣布该法案的二读将在三天内恢复。所以香港人也要为6月12日的背水一战做准备。

And then the unthinkable happened: Knowing that Beijing controlled enough votes in the Legislative Council, protesters surrounded the complex early in the morning, successfully preventing lawmakers from convening. I was then serving my third jail sentence. For a moment, I wondered why the news channel was replaying footage of the Umbrella Movement, though it was not long before I realized Hong Kongers were back.

然后发生了不可思议的事情：因早知北京在立法会控制了足够的票数，故抗争者在清早包围了立法会所在的政府总部，成功地阻止了立法会议员开会。那时我正在第三次服刑。有一刻，我奇怪为甚么新闻频道重播了“雨伞运动”的镜头，很快我才意识到是香港人再走出来了。

Lam suspended the bill on June 15, but fell short of fully withdrawing it. A historic two million people demonstrated the following day, equivalent to one in four out of our entire population. I’m not aware of anything comparable to this level of discontent against a government in modern history.

林郑于6月15日暂缓了该法案，但没有完全撤回该法案。第二天，200万人历史性地涌上街头，相当于我们整个人口中的四分之一。我不知道，香港人这种不满程度，在现代历史上有哪一刻能比得上。

I was released exactly three months ago, on June 17, and have since joined fellow Hong Kongers to protest in the most creative ways possible. In addition to the bill’s withdrawal, we demanded Lam to retract the characterization of us as “rioters,” drop all political charges, and establish an independent investigation into police brutality. Some of us crowdfunded for newspaper advertisements ahead of the G-20 summit in late June calling for the world not to neglect Hong Kong. Others broke into and occupied the Legislative Council complex on July 1, the same day another 550,000 Hong Kongers protested peacefully.

我在三个月前，也就是6月17日出狱，跟着，我和其他香港人一起以最有创意的方式抗争。除了要求撤回法案，我们要求林郑撤回我们作为“暴徒”的定性，放弃所有政治检控，并对警察暴行进行独立调查。我们中的一些人在6月下旬的20国集团峰会之前众筹报纸广告资金，呼吁世界不要忘记香港。其他人于7月1日闯入并占领了立法会大楼，同一天又有55万香港人和平抗议。

Crowds continued to show up in large numbers every weekend, with smaller rallies taking place almost daily across the territory. But the government would not listen; instead of defusing the political crisis, it dramatically empowered the police. The movement reached a turning point on July 21. That night, thugs with suspected ties to organized crime gathered in the Yuen Long train station and indiscriminately attacked not just protesters returning home, reporters on the scene, but even passersby. The police refused to show up despite repeated emergency calls, plunging Hong Kong into a state of anarchy and mob violence.

每个周末人群继续大量出现，几乎每天都有较小的集会在各区举行。但是政府拒绝聆听；它没有化解政治危机，而是大大增强了警察的权力。运动在7月21日达到了转捩点。那天晚上，涉嫌与有组织犯罪有联系的暴徒聚集在元朗西铁站，无差别地袭击了现场记者、回家的抗议者、甚至是路人。尽管多次发出紧急呼吁，警方仍然拒绝出现，使香港陷入无政府状态和暴徒暴力之中。

On August 5 alone, the day Hong Kongers participated in a general strike, the police shot 800 canisters of tear gas to disperse the masses. Compare that to only 87 fired in the entire Umbrella Movement five years ago, and the police’s excessive force today is clear. Their increasingly liberal use of pepper spray, pepper balls, rubber bullets, sponge bullets, bean bag rounds, and water cannons — almost all of which are imported from Western democracies — are no less troubling. In light of this, I applaud Chairman McGovern for introducing the PROTECT Hong Kong Act last week in the House of Representatives. American companies mustn’t profit from the violent crackdown of freedom-loving Hong Kongers.

仅在8月5日，香港人参加大罢工的那天，警方就发射了800枚催泪弹驱散人群。相比之下，五年前在整个雨伞运动中只发射了87枚，今天警察的过度武力显而易见。他们越来越肆意地使用胡椒喷雾、胡椒弹、橡胶子弹、海绵弹、布袋弹和水炮——同样令人不安的是，这些武器，几乎全部都是从西方民主国家进口的。有鉴于此，我赞赏麦克高文主席上周在众议院举荐了《保护香港法案》。对于针对爱自由的香港人的暴力镇压，美国公司必不能从中牟利。

Co-Chairman Rubio is also right for recently writing that “Hong Kong’s special status,” under American law, “depends on the city being treated as a separate customs area, on open international financial connections, and on the Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the U.S. dollar.” Beijing shouldn’t have it both ways, reaping all the economic benefits of Hong Kong’s standing in the world while eradicating our sociopolitical identity. This is the most important reason why the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act enjoys the broad support of Hong Kong’s civil society, a point which I want every member of Congress to take note.

鲁比奥联席主席最近也写道，根据美国法律，“香港的特殊地位”，“取决于城市被视为一个单独的关税区、开放的国际金融联系、以及港元与美元的挂钩。”北京不应该鱼与熊掌两者兼得，在消除我们的社会政治身份的同时，收获经由香港在环球经济地位而得来的利益。这是《香港人权与民主法》得到香港公民社会广泛支持的最重要原因，我希望每位国会议员都能注意到这一点。

Lam finally withdrew the bill earlier this month, but just as protesters have long stopped calling for her resignation, this decision was almost meaningless by now. The movement is far from over, because it has long moved beyond one bill or one person. Our fifth and most important demand is genuine structural change in Hong Kong. Our government’s lack of representation lies at the heart of the matter.

林郑终于在本月早些时候撤回了这项法案，但正如抗争者一早已不再要求她辞职一样，这一决定现在几乎毫无意义。这场运动远未结束，因为它已经超过一个法案或一个人。我们的第五个也是最重要的要求是香港真正的结构性变革。我们的政府缺乏认受性是问题的核心。

As I speak, Hong Kong is standing at a critical juncture. The stakes have never been higher. Authorities have all but stopped issuing permits known as “letters of no objection,” so virtually every demonstration is an “illegal assembly.” Moreover, we are confronted by the huge Chinese military buildup just across the border in Shenzhen. President Xi Jinping is unlikely to take bold action before the upcoming 70th National Day in October, but no one can be sure what’s next. Sending in the tanks remains irrational, though not impossible. Chinese interference in Macau, Taiwan, Tibet, and especially Xinjiang, serves as a reminder that Beijing is prepared to go far in pursuit of its grand imperial project.

在我发言时，香港正处于关键时刻。各种风险愈来愈高。当局几乎停止发放“不反对通知书”，因此几乎每次示威都是“非法集会”。此外，我们面临的是中国在深圳边境的庞大军事集结。习近平主席不太可能在即将到来的十月国庆日之前采取大胆行动，但没人能确定接下来会发生甚么。派坦克进城仍是不理性的选择，尽管并非不可能。中国对澳门、台湾、西藏、特别是新疆的干涉，提醒人们北京准备在追求宏大的帝国计划方面走得更远。

I was once the face of Hong Kong’s youth activism. In the present leaderless movement, however, my sacrifices are minimal, compared to those among us who have been laid off for protesting, who have been injured but too afraid of even going to a hospital, or who have been forced to take their own lives. Two have each lost an eye. The youngest of the 1,400 arrested so far is only 12-year-old schoolboy. I don’t know them, yet their pain is my pain. We belong to the same imagined community, struggling for our right of self-determination so we can build one brighter, common future.

我曾经是香港年轻人运动的代言人。然而，在目前的“无大台”运动中，与我们中间因抗议而被解雇、受伤却害怕去医院求诊、或被迫自杀的人相比，我的牺牲很少。有两人各已失去了一只眼睛。到目前为止，被捕的1400人中最年轻的是只有12岁的男生。我不认识他们，但他们的痛苦是我的痛苦。我们属于同一个想像的共同体，同为我们的自决权而奋斗，以使我们可以建立一个更加光明，共同的未来。

A baby born today will not even have celebrated his 28th birthday by July 1, 2047, when Hong Kong’s policy of “50-year no change” is set to expire. That deadline is closer to us than it appears; there’s no return. Decades from now, when historians look back, I’m sure that 2019, much more so than 2014, will turn out to have been a watershed. I hope, too, that historians will celebrate the United States Congress for having stood on the side of Hong Kongers, the side of human rights and democracy.

今天出生的婴儿在2047年7月1日，即香港的“50年不变”政策到期之时，甚至还未迎来他的28岁生日。那个期限比它表面所见更接近我们；没有重来的可能。数十年后，当历史学家回顾过去时，我确信2019年相比2014年更是一个分水岭。我也希望历史学家能够庆贺美国国会选择站在香港人及其代表的人权和民主的一边。