Senate Passes Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act Unanimously

In a recent development, the senate of the United States passed legislation to protect human rights in Hong Kong unanimously on Tuesday. The event came after China’s effort to crackdown the pro-democracy protest, which is going on in Hong Kong for several months. The legislation might worsen the present condition between the United States and China. 

Further Process

The legislation called the ‘Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act” has passed in the Senate by voice vote. As the bill passed in the senate, now it will go to the House of Representatives. The House of Representative already approved a similar version of the legislation. As a result, now it is clear that the bill will be passed by the house quickly. Once the bill passed from the two houses, both the houses will work out to remove the differences before sending it to President Donald Trump for his consideration. 

The Senate also passed another bill, again unanimously, which will put ban the exports on individual items to Hong Kong. Most of the things were used by the Hong Kong police to suppress the pro-democratic movement. Pepper spray, rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun guns are among the banned export items.

The White House has not responded to the legislation yet. Without taking his name, a United States official revealed that no decision has made about the topic again. It will be interesting to see whether President Donald Trump would sign or veto the Hong Kong Bill. Most experts think that President will not veto, owing to the presidential election in 2020. But, on the other hand, if President Donald Trump would not apply his veto, the ongoing trade deal will be affected negatively. Previously, Trump asked China to handle the issue humanely.

The officials from the Chinese embassy did not respond to the development yet.