The US has sanctioned six Chinese and Hong Kong officials who it alleged were involved in “transnational repression” and acts that threaten to further erode the territory’s autonomy, with Beijing threatening to take countermeasures.
The six officials included Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Paul Lam (林定國), Director of the Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong Dong Jingwei (董經緯) and Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee (蕭澤頤).
“Beijing and Hong Kong officials have used Hong Kong national security laws extraterritorially to intimidate, silence and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who were forced to flee overseas, including a US citizen and four other US residents,” the US Department of State said.
Photo: AP
The statement dated Monday said the six officials sanctioned were linked to entities or actions that engaged in coercing, arresting, detaining or imprisoning individuals under the authority of Hong Kong’s National Security Law, or implementing the law.
The other three officials were Sonny Au (區志光), secretary-general of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong, and assistant police commissioners Dick Wong (王忠巡)and Margaret Chiu (趙詠蘭).
Since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 to quell the 2019 massive anti-government protests, Hong Kong authorities have prosecuted many leading activists in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Photo: AP
The Hong Kong office of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the sanctions, saying they again exposed the ill-intention of the US to undermine Hong Kong’s prosperity and contain China’s development.
It urged Washington to stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs.
“China will surely take effective countermeasures against these despicable acts by the US!” it said in a statement.
In Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said China would take resolute countermeasures for any wrong actions by the US.
He said the actions taken by Hong Kong police against “anti-China elements” who fled abroad were carried out according to the law and that the US has no right to interfere with the territory’s national security cases.
Condemning the US over the sanctions, the Hong Kong government said it despises them and is not intimidated by them.
“It, once again, clearly exposed the US’ barbarity under its hegemony, which is exactly the same as its recent tactics in bullying and coercing various countries and regions,” it said in a statement.
It said the “absconders” mentioned by the US government are wanted for arrest, because they continued to blatantly engage in activities endangering national security overseas.
It said the US has given cover for those “who have committed these evil deeds,” and therefore it was necessary for Hong Kong to take lawful measures to combat the acts.
“The imposition of the so-called ‘sanctions’ in the guise of defending human rights and democracy indeed constitute a demonstration of shameless hypocrisy with double standards on the part of the US,” it said.
Lam said the sanctions” do not affect my work; they do not affect my life.”
He said the sanctions represented “blatant tyrannical bullying intended to deter people from participating in safeguarding national security” in a statement.
However, Frances Hui (許穎婷), one of the overseas-based activists targeted by the authorities, wrote on X that it was a critical step in addressing the territory’s worsening crackdown.
She said they hoped it marked the beginning of a sustained effort to hold perpetrators accountable.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS