The U.S. government announced Friday (Jan. 15) sanctions against six Hong Kong and Chinese officials linked to the enforcement of Hong Kong’s national security laws.
In a statement, Secretary Pompeo said Hong Kong authorities arrested more than 50 pro-democracy political and activist figures, including 13 former members of the Legislative Council, a U.S. lawyer and a former law professor, in a shocking crackdown on Jan. 6. Pompeo said what these individuals were doing was attempting to promote fairness and openness in the Hong Kong Legislative Council primaries, and that the actions of the Hong Kong authorities were another clear example of the fundamental undermining of Hong Kong’s freedom and democratic process by the People’s Republic of China.
The six Hong Kong and Chinese officials placed on the sanctions list Friday include You Quan, deputy head of the Communist Party’s Hong Kong and Macau Central Leading Group; Sun Qingye, deputy head of Beijing’s State Security Office in Hong Kong; Tam Yiu-chung, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress; Choi Chin-pang, head of the National Security Division of the Hong Kong Police Force; and Jiang Xue-li and Kan Kai-yan, both of whom have the rank of assistant commissioner of the Hong Kong Police Force.
The sanctions were imposed pursuant to Presidential Executive Order 13936. Under the executive order, all assets of the sanctioned Chinese and Hong Kong officials in the United States will be frozen and they and their immediate family members will be barred from entering the United States.
Prior to this, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on dozens of Hong Kong and Chinese officials for violating democracy and autonomy in Hong Kong, including Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Secretary for Justice Eva Cheng, Secretary for Security Li Ka-chiu, and Commissioner of Police Tang Ping-keung; Xia Baolong, Director General and Zhang Xiaoming, Deputy Director General of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council of China; Luo Huining, Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; and 14 Vice Chairmen of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress, including Wang Chen, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
After Hong Kong authorities carried out a major arrest of democracy activists in early January, Pompeo had warned last week that new sanctions would be imposed in response. White House National Security Adviser John O’Brien also previously issued a statement saying the U.S. was considering further action in response to Beijing’s erosion of the rule of law in Hong Kong.
In his statement Friday, Pompeo said the U.S. urged Chinese and Hong Kong authorities to immediately release those targeted by national security laws or other laws and to drop charges against them. He said they were simply exercising their rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
Pompeo concluded his statement by saying the U.S. condemns the People’s Republic of China’s erosion of Hong Kong’s freedom and democratic process and will continue to use all available tools for accountability.
The Trump administration continues its tough stance against the Chinese Communist regime ahead of its upcoming departure from office. On Thursday, the Trump administration issued a series of measures against China and Chinese companies throughout the day, imposing sanctions on officials and companies involved in island reclamation and militarization in the South China Sea, placing nine Chinese companies, including Xiaomi, on a “blacklist” of companies with ties to the Chinese military, and restricting some transactions with China related to information and communications technology and services. Some transactions with China related to information and communications technologies and services. On Saturday, the United States also announced the lifting of self-imposed restrictions on high-level diplomacy between the United States and Taiwan.
In a conversation with Voice of America Director Riley following his speech at Voice of America this week, Secretary Pompeo said these actions were not rushed, but rather were considered efforts that are an important part of a strategy to protect and maintain the freedom of the American people in the face of the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party.
He said, “The Chinese Communist Party has clear intentions of hegemonic domination, and we have an obligation and a responsibility to the American people, and frankly, to freedom-loving people around the world, to make sure that that is not the world in which our children and grandchildren will live.”
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