Off-the-Record Discussion on Hong Kong

The Hong Kong government's moves to write new sedition and subversion legislation for Hong Kong have generated a storm of protest and heated debate on the island. Hong Kong officials claim that the proposed Article 23 measures are drawn heavily from existing laws based on British statutes, and that nothing significant will be changed. However, many people in Hong Kong and overseas believe that the proposed Article 23 measures may end Hong Kong's freedoms and damage its economic prosperity.

In a January 24 off-the-record discussion on Hong Kong at the Woodrow Wilson Center, James R. Keith, U.S. consul general for Hong Kong and Macau, discussed Hong Kong's economic and political situation as well as U.S. policy toward the region with a group of congressional staffers and senior China experts.