China sanctions 11 Americans in retaliatory move

BEIJING: China has sanctioned eleven Americans, including senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, in retaliation for similar US moves prompted by Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong.

The United States last week accused eleven officials of suppressing “freedom and democratic processes” in Hong Kong, including city leader Carrie Lam, and announced plans to freeze their US assets.

It was the toughest US action yet in response to Beijing’s introduction of a sweeping and controversial new national security law for the territory.

Beijing said the measure was a violation of international law and interferes in China’s internal affairs “China has decided to impose sanctions on some people that behaved badly on Hong Kong-related issues,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Monday.

Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth and National Endowment for Democracy president Carl Gershman are also on the list. “The Chinese government’s announcement of unspecified sanctions against me is little more than an effort to distract attention from its wholesale assault on the rights of the people of Hong Kong,” Roth said in a statement issued by Human Rights Watch.

READ MORE: China slams US for imposing sanctions on Hong Kong leaders

Republican senators Rubio and Cruz established themselves as two of the most vocal supporters of Hong Kong’s democracy movement last year.

Chinese authorities have also issued arrest warrants for six exiled pro-democracy campaigners and launched a crackdown on other activists. On Monday, Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, one of the city’s most vocal Beijing critics, was arrested under the security law.

The US measures come three months ahead of the November presidential election in which the incumbent Donald Trump is campaigning hard on an increasingly strident anti-Beijing message.

As public disapproval has grown for his handling of the pandemic, Trump has pivoted from his previous focus on striking a trade deal with China to blaming the country for the coronavirus crisis.