WASHINGTON\u2014Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said on Nov. 12 that the situation in Hong Kong displays Beijings real intention, which is to push the United States out of the Indo-Pacific region, and that current U.S. foreign policy is inadequate to address the \u201cdangers at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan think tank, Hawley called for a change in foreign policy approach in light of a new era of competition with China.<\/p>\n
\u201cChinas bid for domination is the greatest security threat to this country in this century, and our foreign policy around the globe must be oriented to this challenge and focused principally on this threat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The youngest member of the U.S. Senate said the Chinese Communist Partys response to the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests shows clearly \u201cwhat Beijing is capable of, what Beijings intentions are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst Hong Kong, then Taiwan, then the whole region,\u201d he said, adding that the Chinese regime \u201chas already been telegraphing\u201d that it wants \u201cto shut us out of the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chinese domination is a direct threat to U.S. national security and prosperity, Hawley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Indo-Pacific is a region that is absolutely vital to us. We have to be able to trade in that region. We have to be able to have access to that region on free and equal terms,\u201d he said, noting the importance of the region for the \u201cprosperity of our middle and working class.\u201d<\/p>\n
He argued that U.S. foreign policy should address the new challenge and \u201cmake sure China does not become an imperial power that dominates the region and the international system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The freshman senator visited Hong Kong last month and spoke with activists on the street. After his trip, he introduced the \u201cHong Kong Be Water Act,\u201d together with Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and John Cornyn (R-Texas), calling for the use of the Global Magnitsky Act to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for suppressing freedoms in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think that Hong Kong is the Berlin of this generation, in the sense that it captures and makes vivid the struggle that this generation is going to have, which is with an increasingly martial and expansionist China,\u201d Hawley said. \u201cAnd thats what were seeing play out in Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The House on Oct. 15 unanimously passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The bill would require the U.S. government to conduct an annual review as to whether Hong Kong is \u201csufficiently autonomous\u201d from mainland China to retain its special trading privileges with the United States.<\/p>\n
The Senate hasnt yet passed its version of the bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cI dont know why were not voting on the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,\u201d Hawley said. \u201cI hope that well vote this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since June, mass protests have erupted on Hong Kong streets over fear that a now-withdrawn extradition bill would lead the Chinese Communist Party to expand its influence in the city. The demonstrations have since evolved into a movement advocating for universal suffrage and greater freedoms.<\/p>\n