The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U. S. sanctions many Chinese officials for Hong Kong actions
The United States punished 24 Chinese officials on Wednesday for undermining Hong Kong’s democratic freedoms, acting ahead of the first scheduled meeting of senior Chinese and U. S. diplomats since President Joe Biden took office.
The State Department announced that it would impose financial sanctions on a raft of officials, including a member of the Communist Party’s 25- member Politburo, Wang Chen, over an issue that Beijing has repeatedly said is an internal political matter. Earlier sanctions imposed by the Trump administration had barred the same officials from traveling to the U. S. and frozen their assets.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is visiting Japan and South Korea, said the move followed China’s rewriting of Hong Kong’s election laws and ramming the changes through its Communist Party- controlled legislature.
“This action further undermines the high degree of autonomy promised to people in Hong Kong and denies Hong Kongers a voice in their own governance,” Blinken said in a statement.
At the start of a meeting with
South Korea’s foreign minister Wednesday, Blinken mentioned China in the same breath as Myanmar, North Korea and other countries in which he said ruling governments are threatening democracy and stability.
Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin began their joint visit in Tokyo, where they strongly rebuked China for what they called “destabilizing actions,” including efforts to menace Japan over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands.
Separately, one of Biden’s senior advisers on Asia, Kurt Campbell, told the Sydney Morning Herald that relations between the U. S. and China would not improve until Beijing stopped its economic coercion against Australia.
Such remarks have heartened traditional U. S. allies and stirred anger in China, which has repeatedly called on the United States to abandon a confrontational approach. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and Blinken are scheduled to meet the top Chinese diplomats, Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi, in Alaska beginning today.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, said the latest round of sanctions “fully exposed the sinister intentions of the United States to interfere in China’s internal affairs.”