First, beyond being addressed in siloed policy debates, human rights need to be at the forefront of and integrated into the totality of bilateral relations. As HRIC points out in our White Paper: “Too Soon To Concede The Future,” the National Security Law itself states that fundamental rights and freedoms must be protected, including those “under the Basic Law... and the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as applied to Hong Kong” (Art. 4), and requires adherence to the rule of law (Art. 5).[39] Cynical dismissals of these rights provisions that cite China’s lack of a rule of law miss critical opportunities and strategies to advance policies and interventions that might contribute to stronger defense of individual cases as well as needed legislative and systemic reforms.