The Strategic Competition Act (2021) - Hong Kong Watch's Analysis and Response
Senator Bob Menendez, Chair of the United States (US) Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced on 8 April 2021 a sweeping package of legislation which would mandate diplomatic and strategic initiatives to counteract the Chinese Government’s increasing authoritarian positioning abroad.
The Strategic Competition Act of 2021, would be the most important and far-reaching piece of China legislation to be adopted by the US Congress since the Hong Kong Policy Act (1992), formalising the bi-partisan consensus that has emerged in the United States of America (USA) in recent years that the PRC is a ‘strategic competitor’.
This briefing includes Hong Kong Watch’s analysis of this important piece of legislation, summarising the key insights within the bill.
It also includes two recommendations of additional measures which Congress should consider, namely:
The incorporation of a clause which would ensure the passage of lifeboat provisions laid out in the Hong Kong Safe Harbor Act.
The incorporation of a clause which would stop US investment into Chinese firms known to be complicit in gross human rights abuses or funding the People’s Liberation Army.