China sanctioned outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 27 other senior officials of former President Donald Trump, accusing them of “hatred” against the Chinese and of carrying out “crazy” actions to damage their interests.
The announcement came when the new president of the United States, Joe Biden, was sworn in in Washington.
The move by China’s Foreign Ministry appeared to indicate Beijing’s anger at Pompeo, which the Chinese government and state media routinely ridicule, who on his last day in office said that China had committed genocide against Uighur Muslims. in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
The strongly worded statement, and its timing, also pointed to Beijing’s anger and frustration at the Trump administration.
“In recent years, some anti-China politicians in the United States, due to their selfish political interests and their prejudices and hatred against China and without showing respect for the interests of the Chinese and American people, have planned, promoted and executed a series of insane movements that have seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs, undermined China’s interests, offended the Chinese people, and seriously disrupted China-U.S. relations, ” the statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. .
“The Chinese government is firmly determined to defend China’s national sovereignty, security and development interests. China has decided to sanction 28 people who have seriously violated China’s sovereignty and who have been primarily responsible for such measures by the United States in China-related issues. ”
Other sanctioned former Trump officials include commercial chief Peter Navarro, national security advisers Robert O’Brien and John Bolton, health secretary Alex Azar, UN ambassador Kelly Craft and former Trump aide Steve Bannon.
“These people and their direct relatives are prohibited from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao from China. They and the companies and institutions associated with them are also prohibited from doing business with China, ”said the Foreign Ministry.
Earlier Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry had dismissed genocide charges against the Uighur community in Xinjiang.
Responding to Xinjiang’s accusations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said at the ministry’s regular briefing: “Pompeo has lied so many times in recent years, and this is just another blatant lie.”
“This American politician is known for lying and cheating, he is becoming a laughingstock and a clown.”
Hua said China hopes that “the new administration will work together with China in a spirit of mutual respect, properly handle differences and carry out more mutually beneficial cooperation in more sectors.”
“We hope that the new US administration can make its own reasonable and collected judgment on the Xinjiang problems, among other issues.”
