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Washington imposes sanctions on four more Hong Kong officials over a national security law imposed by China.
The United States imposed sanctions on four more officials on the mainland and Hong Kong, accusing them of threatening the peace and security of the semi-autonomous city for their role in enacting the national security law imposed by Beijing in late June.
The US State Department identified the four as Deng Zhonghua, deputy director of the Office of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs; Edwina Lau, deputy police commissioner in Hong Kong, and Li Jiangzhou and Li Kwai-wah, two officials from the recently established national security bureau in Hong Kong.
“These individuals will be prohibited from traveling to the United States and their assets within the jurisdiction of the United States or in the possession or control of American persons will be blocked,” said Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State of the United States.
“These actions underscore the determination of the United States to hold accountable key figures who are actively destroying the freedoms of the Hong Kong people and undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy,” he added.
None of the four officials could be immediately reached for comment.
Li Kwai-wah, a police superintendent for the department of national security, was one of four officials subject to US sanctions. [Joyce Zhou/ Reuters]
Hong Kong’s Chief Administration Secretary Matthew Cheung said the sanctions were “absolutely unacceptable, blatant interference and I would use the word ‘barbaric’.”
“We are not going to be intimidated,” Cheung told reporters, speaking at a regular press conference held Tuesday morning in Hong Kong.
Washington has already imposed similar sanctions on Hong Kong’s top leader, Carrie Lam, as well as the city’s current and former police chiefs. Lam played down the effect of the measures in August, but acknowledged that he had struggled with a credit card after the sanctions.
Washington has called China’s enactment of the national security law in Hong Kong an unacceptable violation of the “one country, two systems” commitment made on handing over the city from Britain in 1997. The new legislation, imposed on June 30, it punishes everything that Beijing considers secession. , subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life imprisonment.
About two dozen people have been arrested under the new law, including newspaper mogul Jimmy Lai, a staunch critic of the Beijing government.
So far, only two have been charged: Tony Chung, the 19-year-old former leader of an independence group, and Tong Ying-kit, a 23-year-old activist who was arrested in July after hanging a “Liberate Hong Kong” on his motorcycle. and allegedly collided with a group of policemen.
Last month, the US State Department also warned international financial institutions doing business with people held responsible for China’s crackdown in Hong Kong that they could soon face tough sanctions.
Relations between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, fell to the lowest point in decades in the run-up to last week’s US elections. The two sides are at odds on a wide range of issues, including China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its handling of Hong Kong.
Monday’s appointments are the first sanctions imposed on China since Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump. Biden will take office on January 20. So far, Trump has refused to admit defeat.
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