Behaving ‘badly’
curity researcher at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said.
However, it ‘sends a signal that US-China tensions will continue to deepen’, Raska said.
The last US navy ship to visit Hong Kong was the USS Blue Ridge in April.
J Michael Cole, a Taipei-based senior fellow with the Global Taiwan Institute, said the move was ‘mostly symbolic’ but yet another sign of the ‘tit-for-tat escalation which is poisoning the bilateral relationship’.
Hua said they would also apply sanctions to a number of USbased NGOs, although failed to
give any specifics over the form the measures would take.
Sanctions will apply to NGOs that had acted ‘badly’ over the recent unrest in Hong Kong, she said, including the National Endowment for Democracy,
Human Rights Watch and Freedom House.
There was ‘ already a large amount of facts and evidence that make it clear that these nongovernmental organisations support anti-China’ forces and ‘incite separatist activities for Hong Kong independence’, Hua said.
She accused them of having ‘great responsibility for the chaotic situation in Hong Kong’.
Protesters in Hong Kong are pushing for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability, but the city’s pro-Beijing leadership has refused any major political concessions.
The increasingly violent rallies have hammered the retail and tourism sectors, with mainland Chinese visitors abandoning the city in droves.
The city’s finance chief warned on Monday that Hong Kong is set to record its first budget deficit in 15 years.