The U.S. government approved a “transnational repression” by six senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials and further eroded Hong Kong’s autonomy, the Trump administration’s primary action to punish China’s urban repression.
“Beijing and Hong Kong officials have adopted the Hong Kong National Security Law to intimidate, silence and harass 19 pro-democratic activists forced to flee overseas, including U.S. citizens and four other U.S. residents,” the State Department said in a statement.
In response, the United States is sanctioning six people “involved actions or policies that have the potential to further erode Hong Kong’s autonomy in breach of China’s commitments and are linked to transnational repression.”
Western countries have criticized Beijing for imposing the National Security Act on Hong Kong and used it for pro-democracy activists in prisons, as well as free media and civil society groups with shutters.
Beijing said the law’s actions, like subversion and foreign collusion, have created stability after the massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.
The sanctions announced on Monday put any property, funds or transactions in the U.S., including Dong Jingwei, a former senior official of China’s major Civil Intelligence Agency, who is now director of China’s office for safeguarding national security in Hong Kong.
Dong De (Dong), formerly China’s highest spy catcher, supervised anti-emotion. He is also the Deputy Minister of National Security, a high-profile role that includes finding foreign spies among China and among its citizens who collude with foreign countries.
Paul Lam, the top legal official in Hong Kong, was also approved for prosecutions against dozens of democratic activists.
Security and police officers Sunny O, Dick Huang, Margaret Joe, Raymond Siu were also approved for their role in “coercing, arresting, detaining or imprisoning individuals” in the security law.
The office of China’s Foreign Commissioner in Hong Kong said the sanctions were “despicable” and a sinister attempt to undermine Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability.
The Hong Kong government strongly condemned its sanctions that “apparently exposed the brutality of the United States under hegemony.”
