US sanctions 14 more Chinese politicians in retaliation for national security law

蘋果日報 2020/12/08 01:41


The United States beefed up its sanctions against China on Monday, adding 14 members of the National People’s Congress to its earlier list of mainland and Hong Kong leaders singled out for restrictions.
The new sanctions target 14 vice chairpersons from China’s parliament, freezing their assets in the U.S. and prohibiting American citizens from dealing with them. The measures were initiated by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, under its Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List.
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“The U.S. is sanctioning the senior leadership of China’s National People’s Congress in connection with developing, adopting, and implementing the national security law,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted, explaining the new sanctions. “We will hold Beijing accountable for destroying Hong Kong’s autonomy.”
Fifteen Hong Kong and mainland officials had previously been sanctioned by the Treasury Department, including Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam.
Lam has told the South China Morning Post that the sanctions are forcing her to store piles of cash in her residence, since no bank was willing to open an account for her and her family members.
Monday’s new sanctions specifically targeted figures under “Hong Kong-related designations”. One prominent example is Wang Chen, a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s seven-member Politburo, the country’s actual ruling body. He was responsible for announcing details of the national security law, focused on Hong Kong, in May this year.
The new sanctions come after the city’s authorities unseated four pro-democracy lawmakers from the Hong Kong Legislative Council. That occurred after the National People’s Congress Standing Committee empowered the Hong Kong government to further curb dissent without going through a legal process.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a routine press briefing that China had stated on many occasions that it “firmly opposes and strongly condemns” Washington’s intervention in China’s internal affairs related to Hong Kong issues.
She also urged the U.S. to immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and other internal Chinese matters, adding that China would take “resolute” countermeasures if the U.S. insisted on continuing to take further action.
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