Toomey and Van Hollen Urge Pres. Biden to Hold CCP Accountable for Apple Daily Shutdown by using Hong Kong Autonomy Act

In the wake of the forced closure of Apple Daily, the last pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, U.S. Senators Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) are urging President Biden to hold the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) accountable by using the Hong Kong Autonomy Act to identify and sanction individuals and entities responsible.

In a letter to President Biden, the Senators wrote:

“The newspaper Apple Daily has long been a voice in support of democracy and individual freedom in Hong Kong. The paper’s founder and owner, Jimmy Lai, has been an outspoken champion for the basic rights of his fellow citizens while the newspaper itself has been a sharp thorn in the side of the CCP leadership, frequently publishing criticism, lampoons, and embarrassing truths about the CCP that could never be printed on the mainland.”

Last month, Reuters reported that Hong Kong’s security chief ordered HSBC and Citibank to freeze Jimmy Lai’s accounts. This week, the security chief ordered Apple Daily’s banks to freeze the newspaper’s assets, directly resulting in its closure. 

“It is our understanding that the orders to the banks were issued in an extrajudicial manner, by a single official outside of the court system, and without any criminal charges or subpoenas,” Toomey and Van Hollen continued. “These orders solidify the impression of many that the rule of law is no more in Hong Kong.”

Section 5 of the Senators’ Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which was signed into law in July 2020, requires the Secretary of State to identify to Congress any foreign person, including foreign businesses, that are “materially contributing” to the “inability of the people of Hong Kong to enjoy the freedom of assembly, speech, press, or independent rule of law.”

“It seems very likely that the breathtaking crackdown on Jimmy Lai and Apple Daily involves numerous foreign persons to whom Section 5 of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act applies. We urge your administration to comprehensively enforce the Hong Kong Autonomy Act in the immediate wake of the injustice imposed upon Jimmy Lai and the forced closure of Apple Daily.”

Read more: https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/minority/toomey-and-van-hollen-urge-pres-biden-to-hold-ccp-accountable-for-apple-daily-shutdown