The United States is seen as holding back on the pressure it is putting on China, given that the top Chinese legislator, Li Zhanshu, is not included in the latest round of sanctions, according to a veteran China watcher.

Washington on Monday imposed punitive financial measures and a travel ban on 14 vice chairs of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee over their roles in the disqualification of Hong Kong lawmakers last month.

NPCSC chair Li was not on the sanctions list, indicating that U.S. officials “don’t want to escalate the matter too far,” tweeted Bill Bishop, founder of the Sinocism newsletter.

In response to the fresh sanctions, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang took the rare step of summoning Rob Forden, the acting top U.S. envoy to China, to express solemn opposition.

Analysts have noted that the officials sanctioned this time are of a very high rank, just one level below Li, who is the third highest ranking official in China. The latest sanctions have humiliated Beijing and created in the central authorities a serious sense of danger, they say.

Among those being punished, Wang Chen is a member of the top governing body, the Politburo, and a main member of the NPC, according to Chinese news site Duowei.

The other 13 were not influential state leaders. They included second-tier Communist Party members who were awaiting retirement, non-party members who had been appointed to symbolically make the NPC a multi-party legislature, as well as ethnic minorities representing Tibet and Xinjiang, Duowei reported.

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