Hong Kong and Chinese officials condemned and mocked a Trump administration’s Friday rally and mocked on Friday a sanction imposed by Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam and 10 other senior officials for their roles in a lengthy crackdown on politics dissent in the city.
The Hong Kong government and several of the right-wing officials dismissed the consequences of the fines, and also condemned them as “blatant and barbaric interference” in China’s domestic political situation. The head of China’s liaison office to Hong Kong, Luo Huining, told Chinese media that the US effort was a waste because he had no holdings in the United States, adding that he could send $ 100 to President Trump to freeze him somewhat.
The convictions and dismissals come as relations between the United States and China have vanished to a historic low, and follow on the heels of a move on Thursday by the Trump administration to punish two of China’s most successful apps, TikTok and WeChat. Analysts say there is little hope that relations will improve in the short term, with the US election difficult and many Trump administration officials deciding to restore relations between the world’s two largest economies.
The new sanctions are the first against officials in Hong Kong and mainland China over the city’s harsh repression of pro-democracy protests, and are yet another indication that the United States has begun treating Hong Kong as just another Chinese city. Last month, Mr Trump also signed an executive order punishing China for its collapse in Hong Kong, after Beijing imposed a national security law on the city in June, which gave whipping powers to security agencies and punished some forms of political speech. .
On Friday, Treasury Department officials said Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam had been punished for being “directly responsible” for imposing policies from Beijing to drive dissent into the city. Ms Lam spoke out against the prospect of sanctions last month, saying she would suffer from all the fines and said she had no assets in the US
In a sarcastic comment posted on Facebook on Saturday, Ms. Lam asked why the United States had mistaken her address for publishing her personal details, adding that she believed it was because she had a previous address wrote in an application for a visa to visit the United States in June 2016.
“If my judgment is correct, it is worth discussing if my personal information for applying for a visa, handed over to the Treasury Department for purposes other than entry, has violated the protection of human rights,” she wrote, and added that she had no desire to return to the United States.
Still, the sanctions hit them and other officials in less obvious ways.
On Saturday, Facebook said in a statement that it has “taken steps to prevent the use of payment services” for individuals on the list. That would mean that Ms. Lam can no longer buy ads on Facebook like any of her other apps.
Credit cards can present another problem. Even if money is kept outside the United States, funds processed by Visa or Mastercard can also be affected. Visa did not immediately respond to questions about the impact of the measures. A Mastercard spokesman said the company was investigating the action to “understand the impact it could have on any financial institution licensed to access” its network.
In a public letter issued to Mrs Lam on Saturday, an official at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said the sanctions had no legal status in Hong Kong.
The penalties have recently stopped reaching the highest level of Chinese officials, who ultimately make the important policy decisions about Hong Kong. Last month, when the administration imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over law abuses against the largely Muslim Uighur ethnic minority in the west of the country, it included one member of the ruling Politburo of the Communist Party.
The Hong Kong government slammed the new sanctions and used them to encourage claims that the United States was engaging in Hong Kong politics. It issued a statement with rhetorical characteristics of officials in Beijing: “The US government’s claim that the imposition of the so-called ‘sanctions’ was in response to the introduction of the National Security Act in Hong Kong is a lame excuse which could hardly stand up to challenge. ”
The Hong Kong government also took particular issue with the release of personal information, including the addresses and identification numbers of the officials who were punished.
“Such a sad move is nothing short of state-sanctioned doxxing that is a serious breach of privacy and personal security,” the government said in a statement. “We reserve the right to take any necessary legal action,” it warned, adding that the Hong Kong government would “take countermeasures.”
Another administration official, Eric Chan, said he and his family had “no fears” about the sentence. And Hong Kong’s secretary of commercial and economic development, Edward Yau, said he believed the measures would fight the United States, causing confusion for U.S. – based businesses.
He called the sanctions “unreasonable and barbaric” and said they would harm long-term US interests in Hong Kong.
In recent months, the Trump administration has taken a series of measures that have heightened tensions with China and pushed back against new aggressive movements by Beijing to exert its influence in the region.
Last month, Mr. Trump issued an executive order ending the special status that the United States had in Hong Kong in diplomatic and trade relations. The Trump administration also arrested officers as affiliates of the People’s Liberation Army in the United States on charges of fraud, and banned students affiliated with some military institutions.
Officials also shut down the Chinese consulate in Houston, citing diplomatic espionage attempts by diplomats there. Back then, Beijing forced the closure of the US consulate in the central Chinese city of Chengdu.
Such tit-for-tat actions are likely to continue. In May, the administration imposed a 90-day limit on visas for Chinese citizens in the United States, finally requiring all Chinese journalists last week to apply for a visa renewal. U.S. officials are expected to not renew many of the visas.
Lin Qiqing and Elaine Yu contributed research.
