Hong Kong: Chairs' Statement on the "Umbrella Nine" Verdicts

April 9, 2019

(Washington DC)--U.S. Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA), Chairman of the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement after a verdict was reached in the case against nine leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement (“the Umbrella Nine”), including Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Chu Yiu-ming, Chan Kin-man, Lee Wing-tat, Shiu Ka-chun, Tanya Chan, Raphael Wong Ho-ming, Tommy Cheung Sau-yin, and Eason Chung Yiu-wah: 

“Since the 2014 Umbrella Movement, the Communist Chinese Government has increased its interference in Hong Kong’s affairs and the Hong Kong government has been complicit in actively suppressing political participation and speech. The past year has been particularly troubling, as Hong Kong’s autonomy under the ‘one country, two systems’ framework—on which U.S.-Hong Kong relations depend—continues to be eroded. The charges and verdicts against the ‘Umbrella Nine’ effectively punish peaceful political dissent and narrow the space for free expression and peaceful assembly. We urge the Hong Kong government to vigorously defend the rule of law and the freedoms on which Hong Kong’s many economic successes have been built.”