USSix Chinese and Hong Kong officialsWho is supposed to participate in “transnational repression” and actions that threaten further destruction of the city’s autonomy, and China threatened to take action.
Six Justice Minister Paul Lam, Security Director Dong Jingwe and Police Commissioner Raymond Siu were included.
AsanctionsExpected even more exacerbation tensions between Washington and Beijing, which are already blocked in frictionTrade tariffsAnd other questions such as Taiwan.
“Applied by officials in Beijing and Hong KongHong Kong’s national security lawIn order to intimidate, remain silent and pursue 19 pro-democratic activists who were forced to flee abroad, including a US citizen and four other US residents, ”the US State Department said.
A statement on Monday said that six sanctioned officials were linked to subjects or actions involved in coercion, arrest, detention or imprisonment under the powers of the city’s security law, or complying with the law.
The other three affected Soni officials, the Secretary-General of the City Committee on National Security, as well as Dick Wong and Margaret Chiu, both assistants of the police commissioners.
Ever since Beijing introduced a national security law in 2020 to stop large -scale anti -government protests in 2019, Hong Kong authorities have prosecuted many leading activists in the former British colony that returned to Chinese administration in 1997.
The repression has caused criticism from foreign governments, especially since it was promised that its civil liberties and semi -autonomy of the Western style would be preserved at least 50 years during the 1997 transfer. Beijing and Hong Kong’s governments insist that the law is necessary for the city’s stability.
Over the past two years Hong Kong’s authorities have beenIssued arrest warrants for 19 activists based abroadWith belonging to $ 1 million, Hong Kong ($ 128 536) for information leading to each of their arrests. The victims of the activists included former Democratic legislators Nathan Low and Ted Zui. They alsocanceled the passportsFrom some foreign activists as part of a new security law, brought to the city last year.
In the Hong Kong office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China condemned the sanctions, saying they again exposed the US bad intensity to undermine the prosperity of the city and hold China’s development. He urged Washington to stop interfere with urban affairs.
“China will definitely take effective countermeasures against these disdainful US actions!” said in a statement.
In Beijing, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs China Giacun said China would take decisive US counteracting for any wrong actions by the United States, and he claimed that the actions taken by Hong Kong police against the “anti-acid elements” that fled abroad were carried out in accordance with the law and that the US has no right to interfere with national security.
The Hong Kong government urged the US for sanctions, saying that they despise them and did not intimidate them.
“This, once again, clearly exposed the US barbarism under its hegemony, which is exactly the same as its recent tactics in bullying and coercion in different countries and regions,” the statement reads.
It states that the “beating” mentioned by the US government is being searched for arrest as they continue to brazenly participate in activities that are at risk of national security abroad. It states that the US gave the cover of those who “committed these evil things” and therefore the city needed to take legitimate measures to combat actions.
“The introduction of so-called” sanctions “under the guise of protection of human rights and democracy is a demonstration of shameless hypocrisy with two standards by the United States,” the statement reads.
Justice secretary Lam said sanctions do not affect it. “They don’t affect my work; they don’t affect my life.”
He said the sanctions presented “brazen tyrannical bullying aimed at participating in the statement in defense of national security.”
But Francis Hui, one of the foreign activists aimed at the authorities, wrote further X that this was a critical step in deciding the aggravated city repression. She said she hoped that this means the start of sustainable efforts to bring to the responsibility of the guilty.
The last US sanctions were not the first city -related. During the first presidential term, Donald Trump is also his governmentimposed sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officialsTo undermine Hong Kong autonomy.
In 2021,US hit more sanctions on officialsOver Beijing’s repression on political freedoms in the semi -automatic city under the former US President Joe Biden.
Originally this story was presented on Fortune.com
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2025-04-01 09:47:00
Kanis Leung, The Associated Press
