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 Ho told Reuters on Monday that Beijing was using its power and
influence to quash dissent around the world, and urged
businesses who invest in China and Hong Kong, a former British
colony, to robustly support human rights and democracy.
The Chinese territory has been rocked by more than three months
of sometimes violent clashes, with demonstrators angry about
what they see as creeping interference by Beijing in Hong Kong's
affairs, despite a promise of autonomy. Beijing is exporting its
authoritarian values around the world, Ho said.
"The only way to counter this global suppression is by hitting
(China) where it really hurts," she said. "The Communist
government doesn't care about any thing other than the economy.
They don't care about human rights and they don't care about
these universal values that we do have."
"We see businesses profiting" in China, she said. "There are a
lot of U.S. companies that have been based in Shenzhen, and they
have turned a blind eye to this issue, to these human issues."
China has denounced the protests and accused the United States
and Britain of interfering in its affairs in Hong Kong. It has
sent clear warnings that forceful intervention is possible.
Ho will testify with Joshua Wong, secretary-general of Hong
Kong's Demosisto party and leader of the "Umbrella Movement,"
and other activists in Congress on Tuesday at an event hosted by
the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC).
U.S. lawmakers are fine-tuning a bipartisan bill that would
require an annual review of the special treatment Washington
gives Hong Kong, including trade and business privileges, under
the U.S. Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992.
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The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act would also make
officials in China and Hong Kong, who have undermined the city's
autonomy, vulnerable to sanctions.
President Donald Trump, who has been waging a tit-for-tat tariff war
with China for more than a year, has suggested China should
"humanely" settle the problem before a trade deal is reached.
Credit rating agency Moody's on Monday lowered its outlook on Hong
Kong's rating to negative from stable, reflecting what it called the
rising risk of "an erosion in the strength of Hong Kong's
institutions" amid the city's ongoing protests.
Ho said the trade war had offered a "protective shield" for the
people of Hong Kong, sheltering them from a violent Beijing
crackdown, such as the deployment of troops.
Industry groups worry that the bill threatens fragile U.S.-China
trade talks, but Ho said passage would send a powerful signal to
other countries and reaffirm U.S. leadership in the world.
"I believe that Hong Kong is in the front lines of this very global
fight for humanity itself," she said.
(This story corrects to lowers 'outlook', not 'ratings', in
paragraph 11)
(Editing by Heather Timmons and Jacqueline Wong)
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