"Hong Kong is a bastion of free expression, art, culture, and commerce. While mainland China was being ravaged by Mao's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, Hong Kong was still a British colony and home to a radical experiment in free market capitalism. By the time partial control was handed over to the Chinese government, creating the infamous one-country/two-systems model, per capita wealth here had eclipsed that of even the U.K.
That experiment may be coming to an abrupt end. China's People's Congress adopted a national security law that would allow the central government, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, to clamp down on civil liberties, destroying the political freedom that made this semi-autonomous city a desirable place to live.
The U.S. government has threatened to revoke Hong Kong's special trading partner status and to levy targeted sanctions to oppose Beijing's actions. But there's another foreign policy lever the government could pull that's nonviolent, humane, and beneficial to U.S. citizens: Make it easier for Hongkongers to leave by welcoming them into America.
"Not only would it be good for them, but it would also be good for the West," says Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University, a contributor to the Volokh Conspiracy legal blog, and the author of a new book, Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom. He argues that the U.S. should have an open-door policy to Hongkongers, and eventually to mainland Chinese dissidents as well. The United Kingdom has already announced plans to extend visas for up to 3 million fleeing Hongkongers."
https://reason.com/video/hong-kong-is-in-trouble-let-its-people-escape-china-by-coming-to-america/
That experiment may be coming to an abrupt end. China's People's Congress adopted a national security law that would allow the central government, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, to clamp down on civil liberties, destroying the political freedom that made this semi-autonomous city a desirable place to live.
The U.S. government has threatened to revoke Hong Kong's special trading partner status and to levy targeted sanctions to oppose Beijing's actions. But there's another foreign policy lever the government could pull that's nonviolent, humane, and beneficial to U.S. citizens: Make it easier for Hongkongers to leave by welcoming them into America.
"Not only would it be good for them, but it would also be good for the West," says Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University, a contributor to the Volokh Conspiracy legal blog, and the author of a new book, Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom. He argues that the U.S. should have an open-door policy to Hongkongers, and eventually to mainland Chinese dissidents as well. The United Kingdom has already announced plans to extend visas for up to 3 million fleeing Hongkongers."
https://reason.com/video/hong-kong-is-in-trouble-let-its-people-escape-china-by-coming-to-america/