“The nominees are representative of millions of Hongkongers who peacefully opposed the steady erosion of the city’s democratic freedoms by the Hong Kong government and the government of the People’s Republic of China,” said the announcement.
“Through the nomination, the members of Congress seek to honour all those in Hong Kong whose bravery and determination in the face of repression has inspired the world,” it said.
All of the nominees have been charged, or are being investigated, under Hong Kong’s national security law, which Beijing imposed on the semi-autonomous city in 2020, a move that caused a rift between Washington and authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing.
The US, Britain and other Western countries have assailed the national security law and changes to the city’s election rules as a violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the agreement that paved the way for the 1997 handover of Hong Kong’s sovereignty from London to Beijing.
In 2020, then US president Donald Trump signed a law sanctioning individuals and banks deemed to have aided the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy and an executive order ending the city’s preferential trading status soon after the national security law took effect. President Joe Biden’s administration has maintained Trump’s hard-line position on Hong Kong and mainland China.
Arrested last May, Zen is on bail pending investigation on suspicion of colluding with foreign or external forces to endanger national security.
The former cardinal, 91, revealed on Thursday that he has been receiving hospital treatment for breathing difficulties since late January after a trip to the Vatican.
In December, Lai, 75, was sentenced to nearly six years in jail for fraud. Apple Daily, the Hong Kong newspaper he founded, was forced to close in 2021 after a crackdown by Hong Kong authorities.
In 2021, Rubio and other CECC lawmakers nominated Hong Kong’s entire opposition movement for the Nobel Peace Prize in response to the national security law.
