Hong Kong: Chairs' Statement on the Sentencing of the "Umbrella Nine"

April 24, 2019

(Washington, DC) U.S. Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA) and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), the chair and cochair respectively of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), issued the following statement after the sentencing of the leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement (“the Umbrella Nine”).

“The sentences given to the leaders of the Umbrella Movement continue a troubling trend of Hong Kong’s harsh punishment against peaceful political dissent and participation. They also send a chilling message to advocates for democracy and anyone critical of the Chinese government’s growing interference in Hong Kong. U.S.-Hong Kong relations depend on the protection of the rule of law and the fundamental freedoms guaranteed to Hong Kong and its citizens in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Hong Kong Basic Law. We urge the Hong Kong government to uphold the rule of law and take steps to end the steady erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy.”