Hong Kong Watch visits Washington, DC and launches report on patriotic education

This week, Hong Kong Watch’s Head of Advocacy and Research Thomas Benson and US Youth Initiative Program participant Joyce Ho visited Washington, DC to brief the White House, Members of Congress, policymakers, and NGO staff on our latest report on “patriotic education” indoctrination in Hong Kong schools. We also highlighted our research which exposes loopholes in the NS-CMIC (Chinese Military Industrial Companies) sanctions regime, operated by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), that have allowed US$4.4 billion in investment from US-headquartered financial institutions to flow to Chinese companies subject to investment bans by the United States government.

Mr Benson held a roundtable discussion on our patriotic education report at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law (GCAL) with Professor Thomas Kellogg, Executive Director of the GCAL, and Maya Wang, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. Participants raised the risks posed by national security education measures in Hong Kong and the Patriotic Education Law to US students, the need for appropriate safeguarding measures for US students traveling to China, and the need to support independent media and a free information environment to push back against Chinese state propaganda.

During the visit, we met with Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), and Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), Chair of the Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We also had productive meetings with the offices of Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), John Cornyn (R-TX), Rick Scott (R-FL), Dave McCormick (R-PA), and Representatives James Walkinshaw (D-VA), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) and James Moylan (R-GU), and engaged with members of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), the Select Committee on the CCP, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), and officials from the State Department and National Security Council. 

During our meeting with Rep. McGovern, Ms Ho raised the urgent need for Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to be extended for Hong Kongers in the US.

This is the third launch event for our patriotic education report; the final launch event will be held in Ottawa later this month. This report and advocacy were made possible by a grant from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD).

香港監察訪華府會見美國國會及政府官員  發布香港愛國教育改革報告

本週，香港監察倡議及研究主管湯柏森（Thomas Benson）和美國「青年政治參與計劃」參加者Joyce Ho到訪美國華盛頓，與白宮官員、國會議員、政策制訂者和非牟利機構職員會面，討論有關香港學校如何灌輸愛國教育的最新研究。我們亦分享了有關美國非特別指定國民中國軍工綜合體企業（NS-CMIC）制裁機制漏洞的調查報告。這個機制由財政部外國資產控制辦公室（Office of Foreign Assets Control）操作，其漏洞令44億美元的投資資金由總部位於美國的金融機構流入受美國投資限制的中國企業。

湯柏森（Thomas Benson）在喬治城法學院亞洲法中心（Georgetown Center for Asian Law）就香港監察有關香港愛國教育改革的報告主持圓桌會議，講者包括中心執行主任Professor Thomas Kellogg和人權監察亞洲區副總監Maya Wang。與會者提到香港國安教育措施和《愛國主義教育法》對美國學生構成的風險，以及支持獨立媒體和自由資訊環境以抵制中國國家級大外宣的需要。

訪問期間，我們有幸會見眾議員兼國會及行政當局中國委員會（Congressional-Executive Commission on China）委員麥高文（Jim McGovern），和眾議員兼眾議院外交事務委員會東亞暨太平洋事務小組委員會主席金映玉（Young Kim）。另外，我們亦會見了參議員Dan Sullivan、Jacky Rosen、John Cornyn、Rick Scott和Dave McCormick，以及眾議員James Walkinshaw、Seth Moulton、Ryan Mackenzie和James Moylan的辦事處、中共問題特設委員會、美中經濟暨安全檢討委員會（US-China Economic and Security Review Commission）、國會及行政當局中國委員會（Congressional-Executive Commission on China）、國務院官員，以及白宮國家安全委員會（National Security Council）官員。

在與麥高文議員會面期間，Joyce Ho提出政府務必迫切延長在美港人的「延遲強制離境」（DED）保護。

這是我們第三場愛國教育改革報告發布會，最後一場將於本月稍後時間在渥太華舉行。這份報告和相關倡議由臺灣民主基金會（TFD）資助。