The US sanctioned an additional 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials over Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on political freedoms in the territory, just ahead of talks with China in Alaska.
The step reflects Washington’s “deep concern” about the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy following changes to its election system, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement yesterday.
Foreign financial institutions that deal with the 24 officials would be subject to US sanctions, the US Department of State said.
Photo: Reuters
The US announcement was made during a visit by Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Japan and South Korea, both of which are wary of China’s growing economic, military and political heft.
The imposition of new sanctions “fully exposes the US side’s sinister intention to interfere in China’s internal affairs, disrupt Hong Kong, and obstruct China’s stability and development,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) told reporters at a daily briefing.
“China will take strong measures as appropriate to resolutely defend national sovereignty, security and development interests,” Zhao said.
While in Tokyo, Blinken and Austin delivered a joint statement with their Japanese counterparts expressing concern about Beijing’s human rights violations against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and China’s determination to alter the status of the Diaoyutais (釣魚台列嶼), which are administered by Tokyo, but claimed by Taiwan and China.
The two yesterday arrived in Seoul for talks.
Blinken and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan are today scheduled to meet Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) and Chinese Central Foreign Affairs Commission Director Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) in Anchorage, Alaska.
The US has said that the meeting would be an initial opportunity to address intense disagreements over trade and human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among those included in the sanctions are Wang Chen (王晨), a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s 25-member politburo, and Tam Yiu-chung (譚耀宗), Hong Kong’s delegate to the Chinese National People’s Congress Standing Committee, which drafted the territory’s National Security Law.
Several officers from Hong Kong’s National Security Division were also sanctioned, including Li Kwai-wah (李桂華), a senior superintendent, as well as Edwina Lau (劉賜蕙), a deputy commissioner of the Hong Kong Police Force and the head of the division.
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