Published 14:05 IST, December 19th 2020
US Senator Ted Cruz dismisses last-minute attempt by Senators to help Hong Kong
US Senator Ted Cruz’s objection dismissed the last-minute attempt by the American lawmakers to pass the law providing special refugee status to the Hong Kongers
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Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s objection on December 18 dismissed the last-minute attempt by the American lawmakers to pass the law providing special refugee status to the Hong Kongers. The Texas Senator took the Senate floor to block the approval of the legislation citing the threat of spying from China. Cruz said that the law is an attempt by Democrats “to advance their long-standing goals on changing immigration laws” and claimed that Beijing would exploit the relaxed immigration standards to send spies to the United States.
Under the Hong Kong People’s Freedom and Choice Act which is reportedly subjected background security checks, the residents of the former British colony would be granted temporary protected status (TPS) similar to other ten countries such as Syria, El Salvador and South Sudan. With this special refugee status by the US, the foreigners already living in the nation would be allowed to stay even past the expiry date of the current visa.
Just objected to Democrats’ exploiting the crisis in Hong Kong to advance their political agenda. We need to have a substantive, bipartisan conversation about standing up for our allies and countering the Chinese Communist Party. Democrats’ bill does not advance that objective. pic.twitter.com/sSNVBAdx9J
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) December 18, 2020
Senator weigh helping Hong Kong
While Cruz remained largely unconvinced and did not support the legislation, other Senators were seen uniting to help the city that is part of China under a special ‘One Country, Two Systems’ arrangement. Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said that helping the Hong Kongers is not only the “morally right thing to do” but also signs with United States national security interests. Rubio is also a co-author of the Hong Kong Safe Harbour Act, which is a bipartisan bill put together along with Democratic Senator Robert Menendez to provide special refugee status to the Hong Kongers who have suffered persecution.
"I deeply believe that Hong Kong is on the front lines of a much larger struggle. It is the broader struggle between authoritarianism and democracy, Rubio said.
Image: AP
14:07 IST, December 19th 2020