Prohibiting the Commercial Export of Covered Munitions Items to the Hong Kong Police Force

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, for months, the world has watched as the brave citizens of Hong Kong have sustained protests against China's decades-long degradation of their civil liberties.

The U.N. High Commissioner has found credible evidence of the Hong Kong Police Force using nonlethal crowd-control weapons in ways that violate international norms and standards. That is why I am proud to support the bipartisan PROTECT Hong Kong Act, as described by our colleague Senator Merkley.

The PROTECT Hong Kong Act would direct the President to ban the issuance of licenses for commercial export of riot-control weapons like tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, stun guns, and tasers to the Hong Kong Police Force. This ensures that the Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters are not subjected to police brutality using products made in the United States of America. I am also proud to support the just- passed Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.

I think the statement being made by the passage of these two pieces of legislation and the presence today of so many of our colleagues on a bipartisan basis standing with the people of Hong Kong against this oppression by their Communist overlords is very, very significant.

Now more than ever, the United States must send a clear message to China that the free world stands with Hongkongers in their struggle.

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