U.S. Congress, CECC, and Human Rights Groups Urge US Capital Giants to Boycott the Upcoming Global Investment Summit Hong Kong

Congressman Jim McGovern speaks on 2019 Annual Report released by Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) on Jan 8, 2020. (Lynn Lin/Epoch Times)

The upcoming Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel on Nov 2, and at Hong Kong HKEX Connect Hall on Nov 3. Some of the said attendees include senior executives of Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and other U.S. financial institutions.

The U.S. Congress and Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) issued statements urging the active finance groups to reconsider their decision to attend the summit. CECC also criticized the capital giants for whitewashing the Hong Kong government and violating human rights if they attended.

CECC co-chairman Rep. Jim McGovern and Senator Jeff Merkley stated on Oct 27. They had called on the senior executives of U.S. financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley to reconsider their attendance at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong.

The statement warned the groups that they would be bobbing to the Chinese Community Party (CCP) and legitimizing their dismantling of Hong Kong’s autonomy, press freedom, and the rule of law by attending the event.

Additionally, they would become a political cover for Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, who is sanctioned by the United States.

The groups said by attending the event, the attendees would not only be accomplices in violating Hongkongers’ human rights in Hong Kong but also “actively undermining the democratic political processes of other countries and exporting an illiberal model of international order.”

The statement also pointed out that if the invited financial institutions expanded their investment in the authoritarian government, they would be harming the national interests of the United States, accelerating further the tear-down of Hong Kong’s autonomy and its people’s rights to freedom. CECC warned that the financial corporation groups would force the U.S. Congress to react.

Previously, 20 human rights organizations in the United States had jointly released a statement and wrote to the U.S. government and Congress.

The organizations condemned major U.S. capital giants for attending the upcoming Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong and gathering with human rights violators the U.S. government had sanctioned.

The 20 human rights organizations urged the U.S. government to act promptly.