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WASHINGTON: China imposed sanctions on nearly 30 former Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, moments after they left office on Thursday (January 21).
In a statement issued just minutes after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Beijing imposed travel bans and trade restrictions on Pompeo, national security adviser Robert O’Brien and UN Ambassador Kelly Craft.
Others covered by the sanctions include Trump’s economic adviser Peter Navarro; its chief diplomat for Asia, David Stilwell; the secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar; along with former national security adviser John Bolton and strategist Stephen Bannon.
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The sanctions are largely symbolic, but they underscore Beijing’s antipathy towards a US administration it views as hostile.
“In recent years, some anti-China politicians in the United States, due to their selfish political interests and 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 crazy movements that have seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs, undermined China’s interests, offended the Chinese people and seriously disrupted China-US relations, ”the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
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On Tuesday, Pompeo announced that he had declared China’s crackdown on Muslim ethnic minorities a “genocide,” possibly opening the door to new US sanctions against Chinese officials.
The Trump administration had steadily increased pressure on China since last year, but it had done so more and more in recent months. During his final weeks in office, the administration had hit numerous officials with sanctions for their actions in Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea.
