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CECC Hearing: “Hong Kong’s Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses”

September 19, 2019

On September 17, HRIC Executive Director Sharon Hom joined three Hong Kong activists and a U.S.-based security expert in testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in a high-profile, and widely-reported hearing, “Hong Kong’s Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses.” (See Hom’s testimony.)

The hearing, led by CECC Chair Rep. James McGovern and Co-Chair Sen. Marco Rubio, focused on the issues at the heart of three months of sustained anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong that have grown into a people’s movement involving millions of Hong Kongers and capturing worldwide attention: unchecked police brutality against protesters, deepening Beijing encroachment on freedoms in Hong Kong, and failure of mainland authorities to live up to its pledge for allowing genuine universal suffrage in Hong Kong.

Hom’s fellow witnesses were:

  • Joshua Wong (a student leader of the 2014 Umbrella Movement and Secretary-General of Demosistō)
  • Denise Ho (pro-democracy activists and Cantopop singer)
  • Sunny Cheung (Spokesperson of  Hong Kong Higher Education International Affairs Delegation (HKIAD)
  • Dan Garrett (Author, Counter-hegemonic Resistance in China’s Hong Kong: Visualizing Protest in the City (2014))

This was the second CECC hearing on Hong Kong this year. The first one was held in May 2019. The high volumes of views of the videos of the hearing—posted by CECC and media outlets— underscore the intense and widening attention on and urgency of the Hong Kong issues in and beyond Hong Kong.

Please visit our Hong Kong program webpage to learn more about and support HRIC’s work on Hong Kong!

Below are links to the videos posted by CECC and media outlets:

Congressional-Executive Commission on China

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQJZTi-XRls (entire hearing)

108,251 views (as of 5:53 p.m., ET, 9/19/19) (the May 2019 hearing received 9,100 views)

  • Joshua Wong: 28:41-36:16
  • Denise Ho: 36:28-42:48
  • Sunny Cheung: 43:02-47:57
  • Sharon Hom: 48:09-55:38
  • Dan Garrett: 55:50-1:05:32

Apple Daily (Chinese language daily in Hong Kong)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDqK56mDuTo

302,716 views (as of 5:48 p.m., ET, 9/19/19)

https://www.facebook.com/hk.nextmedia/videos/382504319332172

788K views (as of 5:49 p.m., ET, 9/19/19)

Hong Kong Free Press

https://www.facebook.com/hongkongfp/videos/453845355213120

276K views (as of 5:50 p.m., ET, 9/19/19)

Excerpts:

Fox Business

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hAnWMSyAPg

47,939 views (as of 5:51 p.m., ET, 9/19/19)

New Tang Dynasty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAExoQDWp_A

79,026 views (as of 5:51 p.m., ET, 9/19/19)

“Hong Kong’s Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses”

 
Tuesday, September 17, 2019 - 10:00am to 12:00pm

Witnesses:

  • Joshua Wong: Secretary-General, Demosistō and “Umbrella Movement” Leader
  • Denise Ho: Pro-democracy Activist and Cantopop Singer and Actress
  • Sunny Cheung: Spokesperson, Hong Kong Higher Education International Affairs Delegation (HKIAD)
  • Sharon Hom: Executive Director, Human Rights in China and Professor of Law Emerita, City University of New York
  • Dan Garrett, PhD: Author, Counter-hegemonic Resistance in China’s Hong Kong: Visualizing Protest in the City (2014)
Hong Kong related resources

2019 Anti-Extradition Protests

2014 Occupy Movement

Other