Hong Kong Watch launches business and human rights report in Washington, DC

Yesterday, Hong Kong Watch held a launch event at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, to highlight the release of our new report Risky Business: how sanctioned entities access capital via Hong Kong. 

This event was hosted by the Hudson Institute and featured a panel discussion with Samuel Bickett, lawyer, human rights activist and author of Beneath the Harbor, a groundbreaking report into sanctions evasion via Hong Kong; Joey Siu, Hong Kong activist and program associate at the National Democratic Institute; and Thomas Benson, Senior Research and Policy Advisor at Hong Kong Watch and author of the new report. The panel was moderated by Michael Sobolik, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. 

The panel discussion outlined some of the main findings of the report, and featured insights from panellists into what steps the US government can take to ensure PRC entities implicated in human rights violations are not able to access US dollar-denominated capital from American investors via Hong Kong equity markets. Samuel Bickett shared his insight advocating for legislative measures to restrict sanctions evasion in Hong Kong on Capitol Hill, while Joey Siu commented on the risks posed to foreign businesses more broadly by the National Security Law and Article 23 legislation in Hong Kong. 

The panel concluded with a call to the US government to place additional sanctions that cover investment in and the purchase and sale of securities issued by publicly listed companies implicated in human rights abuse. 

You can watch a recording of the discussion here.

香港監察商業與人權報告華盛頓發布會順利舉行 就遏制受制裁中國企業經香港吸納美元資金提出政策建議

香港監察昨天在位於華盛頓的哈德遜研究所（Hudson Institute）舉行發布會，推廣新發表的報告《Risky Business: how sanctioned entities access capital via Hong Kong》。

活動由哈德遜研究所主辦，並由下列講者展開專題討論：律師、人權運動者兼《Beneath the Harbor》作者Samuel Bickett（《Beneath the Harbor》是探討經香港規避制裁現象的創新報告）；香港社運人士、美國國際民主協會（National Democratic Institute）計劃助理邵嵐（Joey Siu）；以及香港監察資深研究及政策顧問、報告作者湯柏森（Thomas Benson）。討論主持為哈德遜研究所資深研究員Michael Sobolik。

討論簡要介紹了報告的數項主要發現，講者亦就美國政府能夠採取的措施分享見解，相關措施旨在確保涉嫌侵犯人權的中國實體無法透過香港股市從美國投資者手上吸納美元資金。Samuel Bickett分享他在美國國會提倡立法限制經香港規避制裁行為，邵嵐則談到香港《國家安全法》和23條更廣泛地對外國企業帶來風險。

討論最後呼籲美國政府針對投資及買賣涉嫌侵犯人權的上市公司發行的證券，額外再施行制裁。

請在此處觀看討論錄影。