SENATE BILL: Hong Kong Solidarity & Safe Harbour Act (Passed)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

SENATE BILL

Be it enacted in both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Hong Kong Solidarity & Safe Harbour Act

1.) This act hereby pays tribute to the brave and fearless acts of protest against the Hong Kong Executive and the Chinese Government, and the national security laws introduced.

1B) The congress recognises that the 'one-party two-systems' model has hereby been disbanded by the actions of the Chinese Government and the Hong Kong Executive.

1C.) The congress hereby recognises that action is hereby needed to support the people of Hong Kong.

2. Safe Harbour

2A. All citizens of Hong-Kong, and their spouses & dependents have suffered persecution, or have a well-founded fear of persecution, on account of their peaceful expression of political opinions or peaceful participation in political activities or associations shall hereby be eligible for asylum.

2B.)  Individuals who have been formally charged, detained, or convicted on account of their peaceful actions shall not face any penalty in their application process.

2C.) The Attorney General shall have the power to restrict the Asylum application of any-one found to have contributed or acted to the arrest, detention or restriction of the democratic rights of Hong Kong.

2D.) No Numerical limit shall be imposed on the number of refugees allowed to enter under this act.

2E.) This section shall expire on the 31st December 2025.

People's Regional Senate
Pending

Sponsor: Blair
Senate Designation: SB28:21

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Initial Debate and Sponsor feedback. 24 hrs for the sponsor and then another 48 hours for member responses.

[Blair]

Hi all- this codifies into law the Executive Order that MB signed which gave political asylum to people in Hong Kong.

The bill does some extra things too-it waives the limits that any possible criminality could have on their application, extends it to their spouses & dependents (MBs original order was for all HK citizens but this would cover it for family members from other countries)

It also gives the AG the power to block the applications of those who've been pushing through these undemocratic rule changes.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What is the impact of recognizing such in 1B and is there any risk to doing so?

[Blair]

What is the impact of recognizing such in 1B and is there any risk to doing so?

It's largely symbolic and sets up further action; China has basically gotten away with (and Hong Kong by extension) allowing foreign companies & organisations to operate in Hong Kong as if it's an separate  entity- the system (set up after the handover) is clearly dead & this at least formally acknowledges it.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What is the impact of recognizing such in 1B and is there any risk to doing so?

It's largely symbolic and sets up further action; China has basically gotten away with (and Hong Kong by extension) allowing foreign companies & organisations to operate in Hong Kong as if it's an separate  entity- the system (set up after the handover) is clearly dead & this at least formally acknowledges it.

What would further actions entail?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What is the impact of recognizing such in 1B and is there any risk to doing so?

It's largely symbolic and sets up further action; China has basically gotten away with (and Hong Kong by extension) allowing foreign companies & organisations to operate in Hong Kong as if it's an separate  entity- the system (set up after the handover) is clearly dead & this at least formally acknowledges it.

What would further actions entail?

Question still pending!

[Blair]

What is the impact of recognizing such in 1B and is there any risk to doing so?

It's largely symbolic and sets up further action; China has basically gotten away with (and Hong Kong by extension) allowing foreign companies & organisations to operate in Hong Kong as if it's an separate  entity- the system (set up after the handover) is clearly dead & this at least formally acknowledges it.

What would further actions entail?

It depends; the route for Atlasia in terms of future steps would most likely be financial- either around sanctions on individuals or restrictions on the role of companies in Hong Kong.

I expect a more likely impact would be around the soft power element; with the private sector, the third (charity/NGO) sectors & the wider the parts of civil society etc.

A lot of big multinational companies were based in Hong Kong (such as HSBC) and basically hide (and continue to hide to an extend) behind the myth of 'one country- two systems' which lets them pretend that Hong-Kong exists in a different political space, or reality to mainland China.

This sets it up as a good starting point & basically in my view says 'the old system is dead'... without saying now what we're going to do next. EDIT: because that's in my view for another thread- I wanted this bill to codify the EO into law & have a formal resolution condemning the actions against Hong Kong.

[SevenEleven]

I support this bill and no necessary changes are immediately clear to me.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

If there is no further action needed here, I motion for a final vote, Senators have 24 hours to object.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I am probably going to be opening this when I get on lunch at work. 1:46 PM is way too close for comfort.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Vote is now open. Senators please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Aye

[Left Wing]

Aye

[Senator-elect Spark]

Aye

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Would like to end this later. I contacted blair.

[Blair]

Aye

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Senators have 24 hours to change their votes.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This ends in about 8 hours or so.

[Pericles]

Aye

[SevenEleven]

Aye.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Vote on Final Passage of the Hong Kong Solidarity & Safe Harbor Act:

Aye (6): Blair, Falterin, NC Yankee, Pericles, SevenEleven and Spark498
Nay (0):
Abstain (0):

Didn't Vote (0):

This bill has passed and is sent to the VP for House action.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

SENATE BILL

Be it enacted in both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Hong Kong Solidarity & Safe Harbour Act

1.) This act hereby pays tribute to the brave and fearless acts of protest against the Hong Kong Executive and the Chinese Government, and the national security laws introduced.

1B) The congress recognises that the 'one-party two-systems' model has hereby been disbanded by the actions of the Chinese Government and the Hong Kong Executive.

1C.) The congress hereby recognises that action is hereby needed to support the people of Hong Kong.

2. Safe Harbour

2A. All citizens of Hong-Kong, and their spouses & dependents have suffered persecution, or have a well-founded fear of persecution, on account of their peaceful expression of political opinions or peaceful participation in political activities or associations shall hereby be eligible for asylum.

2B.)  Individuals who have been formally charged, detained, or convicted on account of their peaceful actions shall not face any penalty in their application process.

2C.) The Attorney General shall have the power to restrict the Asylum application of any-one found to have contributed or acted to the arrest, detention or restriction of the democratic rights of Hong Kong.

2D.) No Numerical limit shall be imposed on the number of refugees allowed to enter under this act.

2E.) This section shall expire on the 31st December 2025.

People's Regional Senate
Passed 6-0 in the Atlasian Senate Assembled,