Following the U.S. State Department’s announcement of sanctions against 14 vice chairmen of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Tuesday (Dec. 8) described the U.S. move as “outrageous and unreasonable” and a “crazy and bad act. She asserted that China will take “resolute and powerful countermeasures” to “defend its own sovereignty, security and development interests”.
China’s Vice Chairman of the NPC is a vice-state official, the second highest ranking leader in China’s civil service.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned U.S. Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in China on Tuesday to “solemnly protest” the U.S. State Department’s announcement that it will sanction the 14 vice chairmen of China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s website.
The U.S. has been a serious violator of the basic norms of international relations, interfering in China’s internal affairs and undermining U.S.-China relations,” Zheng Zeguang said. Zheng Zhaoguang expressed his “strong indignation and condemnation” of the U.S. side’s “outrageous and egregious” actions.
After the departure of former U.S. Ambassador to China Branstad in early October, the U.S. ambassadorship to China became vacant, with Fu Guoyen temporarily serving as the representative in charge of foreign affairs.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement Monday announcing sanctions against 14 vice-chairmen of the Communist Party-controlled Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) for their roles in an earlier NPC Standing Committee resolution to disqualify four pro-democracy lawmakers from the Hong Kong legislature. This follows months of U.S. sanctions against senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials over Beijing’s push for a “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law” in Hong Kong.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) has played a central role in the Chinese government’s initiative. He said that Beijing’s relentless attacks on Hong Kong’s democratic process have seriously undermined Hong Kong’s legislature, turning it into a rubber-stamp with no visible opposition.
On November 11, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) authorized the Hong Kong government to disqualify four Hong Kong pan-democratic lawmakers for “endangering national security” and other reasons. Subsequently, all pan-democratic members of the Legislative Council resigned en masse in protest. This left the pro-China Legislative Council in Hong Kong with only one voice and no opposition.
The foreign ministers of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement criticizing Beijing for further undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, rights, and freedoms by using new rules to disqualify members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council after the implementation of the National Security Law and the postponement of the Legislative Council elections in Hong Kong.
It has been noted that Li Zhanshu, the legendary chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), was not on the latest sanctions list announced by the U.S. State Department. Li’s NPC is directly responsible for the widely controversial coercive measures that the CCP has imposed on Hong Kong in the past six months, including the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law. China watcher Bill Bishop tweeted that this indicates the U.S. government does not want to exacerbate the already strained U.S.-China relationship.
Reuters and other media reported that Hua Chunying also urged the U.S. to halt arms sales to Taiwan and any U.S.-Taiwan military ties in response to the new U.S. arms sale announcement at a regular press conference on Tuesday, and said that she would make legitimate and necessary responses based on the situation.
The U.S. arms sale to Taiwan is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the three U.S.-China joint communiques, and seriously harms U.S.-China relations, she said at a regular Foreign Ministry briefing.
The U.S. State Department recently made a decision to approve a possible arms sale to Taiwan of approximately $280 million worth of Field Information Communications System (FICS) and related equipment.
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a press release on Monday (Dec. 7), “The DSCA today submitted the necessary certifications to notify Congress of this potential sale.” The press release states that the sale would include resources and equipment related to field information communications systems, program management support, validation testing, tools and test equipment, and personnel training and training equipment.
The DSCA added that the proposed sale is designed to allow Taiwan’s military to continue to modernize and maintain a reliable defense capability, which is in the U.S. national, economic, and security interests, and that the sale will help improve Taiwan’s security and maintain political stability, military balance, and economic and progress in the region.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the arms sale is expected to go into effect in a month. This is the eleventh military sale to Taiwan under U.S. President Donald Trump’s term, and the sixth this year.
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