On the eve of a high-level meeting between the U.S. and China, the State Department on Tuesday updated its report on the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, naming 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials for infringing on Hong Kong’s right to autonomy under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. Secretary of State John Blinken said in a statement that the purpose of the updated report is to reiterate Washington’s deep concern about the unilateral destruction of Hong Kong’s electoral system by the Chinese National People’s Congress. Notably, Blinken chose to update the list before a high-level U.S.-China meeting on Thursday (18), signaling Washington’s displeasure with the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong government’s purges of the political system and suppression of democracy.
Blinken is on a four-day trip to Japan and South Korea with Defense Secretary Austin, during which the State Department updated its report on the Hong Kong Autonomy Act. Blinken’s statement criticized the Communist Party’s National People’s Congress for overhauling Hong Kong’s electoral system, once again undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, and said that Beijing and Hong Kong officials have not listened to the voices of Hong Kong people when they governed, naming 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials and including them in the ” Autonomy Law” report on.
The 24 people are comparable to the sanctions imposed on Carrie Lam and Xia Baolong
The 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials named this Time include Wang Chen, vice chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) who just explained at the two sessions of the Communist Party of China (CPC) about “patriots ruling Hong Kong” and purging Hong Kong’s electoral system, You Quan, head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, Tam Yiu-chung, a member of the Standing Committee of the NPC, and Li Guihua, a senior superintendent of the Hong Kong Police Force’s National Security Division, as well as other vice state-level officials. Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, Hong Kong Police Force and the National Security Bureau in Hong Kong officials. (See list after the draft)
These 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in three separate instances earlier. According to the Executive Order signed by former U.S. President Donald Trump in July 2020, known as the Presidential Executive Order on the Normalization of Hong Kong (also known as Executive Order 13936), all 24 were sanctioned under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, one of the legal bases of the Executive Order. In October 2020, the U.S. State Department also added Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Xia Baolong, Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China, Luo Huining, Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government, Li Ka-chiu, Director of Security, and Tang Ping-keung, Commissioner of Police, to the list of sanctioned individuals under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act.
The Hong Kong Autonomy Act seeks to impose financial sanctions on persons or institutions that, to a significant degree, make it impossible for China to maintain Hong Kong’s autonomy, and the U.S. Department of State coordinates with the Treasury Department on sanctions orders. The President of the United States has the authority to freeze the assets of reported persons, deny visas or entry to these persons, and impose sanctions for a period of one year; institutions that deal with sanctioned persons cannot borrow from U.S. financial institutions, are prohibited from bank transactions, and are prohibited from using U.S. dollars in foreign currency transactions. Violators of the HKSA sanctions can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined up to $1 million. The President of the United States has the authority to waive or terminate the imposition of sanctions, although the President’s decision can be overruled if there is consensus between the House and Senate.
But Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said on March 2 that foreign and Chinese financial institutions in Hong Kong and China would not enforce U.S. sanctions.
The director of the Hong Kong Democratic Commission in Washington, D.C., Zhu Mumin, said in an interview with the station that the 24 people named by Blinken were already subject to different forms of sanctions, so he believes the U.S. is expanding the sanctions against them this time.
As you can see from the report and the statement, the new list is an extension of sanctions against 14 Chinese officials who were subject to other forms of sanctions earlier, but this time the list was updated under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, and the sanctioned individuals will be subject to further financial sanctions.
U.S. and China Meet on Eve of “Critical Timing”
Secretary of State John Blinken and White House national security adviser John Sullivan will meet Thursday in Alaska with Yang Jiechi, director of the Office of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the first meeting between top U.S. and Chinese officials since the Biden administration took office. Zhu believes the timing of the State Department’s update of the Hong Kong Autonomy Law report demonstrates Washington’s stern response to the Chinese Communist Party’s purge of Hong Kong’s electoral system and its discontent with the pro-democracy primaries.
The State Department’s update of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act sanctions list to Congress on the eve of the U.S.-China high-level meeting on Thursday (18) is a clear indication that the United States is not bending over backwards on the issue of Hong Kong, and that U.S. officials can assess what tone to use in discussions with Chinese officials on human rights, Chu said. This is not a routine update, but a deliberate decision by the Washington government to add 14 new people (24) to the Hong Kong Autonomy Law, a law that the government does not have to update. This is a decision made by the U.S. government after much thought, showing that the Washington government is quite serious about the Chinese Communist National People’s Congress changing the election system in Hong Kong, as well as the big search for pro-democracy activists, requiring China and the Hong Kong government to respond.
Blinken Says He’ll Work with Japan to Defend Democracy: Fang Enge: If Other Countries Follow U.S. or Useful
During his trip to Japan, Lincoln made a statement that he would work with Japan to defend the common belief in democracy and to hold countries or people accountable for endangering democracy. Blinken also said he would stand with allies and partners to speak out for the various rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people, and said that if China is not able to fulfill its obligations, Washington will respond. Ross Feingold, a U.S. political risk management consultant, argued that it would be more effective if the U.S. could consolidate the sanctions list and other countries could follow suit.
I think the point is that in addition to the U.S. sanctions list, it depends on whether Europe, Australia, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada will follow suit.
According to Fang Enge, many Chinese officials and Hong Kong officials’ assets have either long been transferred to Hong Kong or other financial centers, and there may not be many Chinese officials with assets in the United States. However, this time, Washington’s stance, for Hong Kong people around the world, the White House has changed its owner, and the support for Hong Kong still exists. In addition, Fanger also believes that Biden’s team’s support for Hong Kong can solidify the Democratic-Republican consensus within the United States.
(The 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials named by Blinken include 14 vice chairmen of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress (Wang Chen, Cao Jianming, Zhang Chunxian, Shen Yueyue, Ji Bingxuan, Ai Liqin Yimingbhai, Wan Exiang, Chen Zhu, Wang Dongming, Baima Chilin, Ding Zhongli, Hao Mingjin, Cai Dafeng, and Wu Weihua), You Quan, head of the Communist Party’s Central Committee’s United Front Work Department, Deng Zhonghua, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, and the Central (Li Jiangzhou, Deputy Director of the Office for the Maintenance of National Security in Hong Kong, Liu Chi-wai, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Li Guihua, Senior Superintendent of Police, National Security Division, Hong Kong Police Force, Choi Chin-pang, Director of the National Security Division, Hong Kong Police Force, Jiang Xue-li, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kan Kai-yan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Tam Yiu-chung, Member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Hong Kong, and Sun Qing-ye, Deputy Director of the Hong Kong National Security Office. ）
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