The United States imposes sanctions on Chinese officials and Hong Kong on the follow -up of activists abroad

The United States launched a new round of sanctions in China on Monday, targeting six Chinese officials and Hong Kong, with what it described as national repression to repress them on pro -democracy activists in Hong Kong and on the American soil.

The move was the first important step by the new Trump administration to pressure China on Hong Kong Human Rights. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement The officials used national security laws in the city “to intimidate, silence, and harass 19 supporters of democracy who were forced to flee from abroad, including an American citizen and four American residents.”

Among their disabled officials with Dong Jingoy, the best national security official in China in the city since 2023. In his previous role as Chinese Deputy Security Security, Mr. Dong led the country’s efforts to track foreign dissidents and spies.

Justice Minister Paul Lam and Police Commissioner Raymond Seo were among the six officials in the national security agencies and the police force who were punished for their roles in “coercion, arrest, arrest or prison” under the National Security Law.

In the National Security campaign since the widespread disturbances of the city in 2019, the Hong Kong authorities have been imprisoned by dozens of opposition lawmakers, activists and others, including journalists, in the city.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued Monday The annual report Saying that the Hong Kong government continued to use its wide National security laws To undermine the human rights and civil freedoms in Hong Kong, the criticisms made by other Western countries. I noticed that, in December, the Hong Kong government has provided rewards for information that leads to the arrest of dissidents living abroad.

Hong Kong activists in the United States welcomed this step.

“Many of us have borne unimaginable pressure and threats through oppression through national,” said Francis Hui, who was granted political asylum in the United States. statement On behalf of the Freedom Committee of the Hong Kong Foundation in Washington. The members of the family of activists abroad, including Mrs. Hui, were interrogated in Hong Kong by the National Security Police.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said statement The application of these laws, which was imposed for the first time in 2020 following months of the mass protests supporting democracy in the previous year, was “fair and necessary” to restore stability and prosperity to Chinese lands. He also condemned the sanctions, describing it “a grave intervention in the internal affairs of China and Hong Kong.”

The Hong Kong government described the sanctions as “”Hateful behaviorAnd intimidation works that “clearly revealed barbarism in the United States.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sanctions place restrictions on property ownership and financial transactions for individuals in the United States. The United States has already imposed dozens of senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials, and issued a travel and directive ban to freeze the assets imposed on 2020 and 2021.

Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, who was an explicit critic of the human rights registry in China, said Monday’s actions showed the Trump administration’s commitment to keeping those responsible for restricting people’s freedoms in Hong Kong and following those who are taking abroad.

Willie Wow Lab, an older colleague at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, noted that although the sanctions were consistent with Mr. Rubio’s position towards China, President Trump himself did not publicly focus on human rights support in the region. The Trump administration has greatly cut money to the organizations that have given a long time to the divisional societies in China and other countries, including The voice of America and the free radio Asia.

Mr. Lam said: “Trump himself does not have much attention to what is happening in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong,” said Mr. Lam. “But it is just another card to play in a long regular competition with China.”