The United States sanctioned six high employees from China and Hong Kong on Monday for “transnational repression” and actions that, according to them, corroded Hong Kong’s autonomy.
This is one of the first measures of the new Trump administration to punish China for repression of democracy defenders in Hong Kong.
“Beijing and Hong Kong authorities utilized Hong Kong National Security Laws to intimidate, silence and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who were forced to flee abroad, including a US citizen and four US residents,” the state department told a statement.
The US sanctioned six individuals who “engaged in actions or policies that threaten Hong Kong’s autonomy further, in contrast to China’s commitments and in connection with acts of transnational repression,” he said.
Western countries criticized Beijing for imposing the National Security Law on Hong Kong and using it to arrest pro-democracy activists, as well as close liberal media and civil society groups.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities claim that the law, which punishes subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism with penalties that may reach life imprisonment, brought stability to the territory controlled by China after protests largely against the government in 2019.
Sanctions announced on Monday (31) block any property within the US that may belong to individuals, including Dong Jingwei, a senior former China’s main civil intelligence agency, now director of the Hong Kong National Security safeguard.
The China embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a commentary request.
The US issued sanctions based on 2020 Donald Trump’s 2020 decree during its first term, although US Democratic and Republican parliamentarians pressed the Biden government in 2024 to sanction all six authorities.
This content was originally published in the US imposes sanctions against authorities from China and Hong Kong on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil

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