The Trump administration is unleashing fury on the Chinese government and its sympathizers for the blatant attempts to undermine the autonomy of Hong Kong.
Trump administration officials announced on Friday that the US will enact new sanctions on Beijing-backed Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and 10 other Hong Kong and Chinese officials.
Cracking down
The Chinese Communist Party, emboldened by global disarray prompted by the coronavirus crisis, has taken serious action to violate the autonomy agreement with Hong Kong, and Trump has taken several measures to push back.
The Epoch Times reported:
Other than Lam, six other Hong Kong officials were sanctioned, including the current and preceding Hong Kong police chiefs, and the city’s security and justice secretaries. Four Chinese officials were also targeted, including the head of the Liaison Office, Beijing’s representative office in the city, and the head of a central government office for handling Hong Kong affairs in Beijing.
This round of sanctions freezes any U.S. assets the targeted officials possess and bar Americans from doing business with any of the eleven officials.
These sanctions are the latest in a string of retaliatory measures from the US government towards the CCP after Beijing implemented a so-called “national security law” for Hong Kong.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo explained in a statement that “This law, purportedly enacted to ‘safeguard’ the security of Hong Kong, is in fact a tool of CCP [Chinese Communist Party] repression.”
The newly-enacted sanctions specifically target Beijing-controlled Hong Kong officials that played a role in “coercing, arresting, detaining, or imprisoning individuals” under the authority of the national security law.
Increased oppression
The Chinese government has been attempting to trample on the freedom and autonomy of Hong Kong for months, violating a decades-long agreement that the city-state would remain semi-autonomous under a “one country, two systems” principle.
Since the new national security law went into effect last month, however, Beijing has ramped up attacks on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong even further.
The Epoch Times reported that since the law went into effect in July:
Authorities postponed a scheduled September legislative election for a year, citing COVID-19 fears, and disqualified 12 pro-democracy candidates who won votes in an unofficial primary.
Popular protest slogans were also outlawed.A number of pro-democracy advocates, including those residing outside Hong Kong, have also been charged for violating the new law.
Hong Kong has been under duress at the hands of the Chinese government for over a year. Protests against CCP overreach have been ongoing since March of 2019, and the Chinese government shows no signs of backing off. Pompeo concluded in his statement, “today’s actions send a clear message that the Hong Kong authorities’ actions are unacceptable and in contravention of the PRC’s commitments under “one country, two systems” and the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a UN-registered treaty.”
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