H.R. 2661 — Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) Certification Act

This section requires the Secretary of State, not later than 30 days after enactment and thereafter as part of each certification under section 205(a)(1)(A) of the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (22 U.S.C. 5725(a)(1)(A)), to determine whether the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices—Hong Kong's official economic and trade missions in the United States—merit continued extension of privileges, exemptions, and immunities under current law (22 U.S.C. 288k) (i.e., those afforded public international organizations under the International Organizations Immunities Act) and to submit a detailed justifying report that may consider U.S. national security interests. If the Secretary determines the offices no longer merit such extension, they must terminate operations within 180 days after notification to the appropriate congressional committees; if the Secretary determines they merit extension, operations may continue for one year or until the next such certification, subject to expedited congressional disapproval via a joint resolution introduced by House or Senate leaders.

This section prohibits U.S. government entities, on and after the date of enactment, from entering into agreements or partnerships with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices (HKETOs)—Hong Kong's official economic and trade missions in the United States—to promote tourism, culture, business, or other Hong Kong-related matters unless (1) the Secretary of State submits to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs a determination under section 2(a)(1)(A) that the HKETOs merit extension of certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities; (2) no disapproval resolution under section 2(d) is enacted within 90 days of that submission; and (3) the agreement or partnership does not promote efforts by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government or the People's Republic of China government to justify dismantling Hong Kong's autonomy and freedoms guaranteed by the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 or to portray either government as protecting rule of law or human rights in Hong Kong.

This section establishes U.S. policy (1) to prohibit federal entities from knowingly assisting promotion of Hong Kong as a free and autonomous city or its government as protecting human rights and maintaining rule of law, conditioned on the Secretary of State's annual certification under the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (22 U.S.C. 5725(a)(1)) that Hong Kong does not warrant treatment under U.S. law in the same manner as before July 1, 1997; (2) to recognize such promotion as propaganda for China's efforts to dismantle rights guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Sino-British Joint Declaration; (3) to prohibit federal entities from engaging in or assisting Chinese propaganda regarding Hong Kong; and (4) to engage the Hong Kong government through federal entities seeking release of political prisoners, an end to arbitrary detentions, resumption of a free press and fair elections open to all candidates, and restoration of an independent judiciary.