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August 10, 2020

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US slammed for imposing sanctions on 11 officials

CHINA slammed the United States on Saturday for imposing sanctions on 11 officials of the central government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

The US on Friday imposed sanctions on Luo Huining, the head of the liaison office of the central government, as well as Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other current and former officials that Washington accuses of curtailing political freedoms in the global financial hub.

Speaking on behalf of her senior colleagues who are being targeted, Lam said that they are discharging an honorable duty to safeguard national security, and protect not only the life and interests of Hong Kong residents but also the people on the mainland, and they will not be intimidated, a spokesman for Hong Kong government said.

Lam took to Facebook to say that the US got her address wrong, listing the official address of her chief deputy instead. She noted that she was the deputy when she applied for her US visa in 2016.

“By the way, my entry visa to the US is valid until 2026. Since I have no desire to visit this country, it looks like I can take the initiative to cancel it,” Lam said.

The sanctions freeze any US assets of the officials, prohibit them from carrying out business in the country and generally bar Americans from doing business with them.

Lam has previously told local media she has no assets in the United States. Facebook barred Lam and the 10 other sanctioned officials from advertising on the platform, with a spokesperson saying on Saturday it had “a legal obligation to take action.”

“The unscrupulous intentions of the US politicians to support the anti-China chaos in Hong Kong have been revealed, and their clowning actions are really ridiculous,” the liaison office said in a statement. “Intimidation and threats cannot frighten the Chinese people.”

Luo, the director of the liaison office in Hong Kong, said being included on the list shows that he has done what he should for the city and his country.

“I don’t have a penny of assets abroad. Isn’t it in vain to impose ‘sanctions?’ Of course, I can also send 100 US dollars to Mr Trump for freezing,” he said in a statement on the office’s website.

Attempt to intimidate

As well as Luo and Lam, the sanctions target Hong Kong police commissioner Chris Tang and his predecessor Stephen Lo; John Lee, Hong Kong’s secretary of security, and Teresa Cheng, the justice secretary. Xia Baolong, the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing, was also named.

They told the media that they will continue to do their job well and that the US attempt to intimidate them with the so-called sanctions is doomed to fail.

Police chief Tang told local media on Saturday that maintaining the security of the country and Hong Kong was his responsibility, and foreign sanctions were meaningless.

The Hong Kong government described the sanctions as “shameless and despicable.”

“We will fully support the central government to adopt countermeasures,” it said in a statement.

“Imposed under the so-called Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals List of the US Department of the Treasury, the latest US government measure represents blatant and barbaric interference in the internal affairs of the People’s Republic of China, using Hong Kong as a pawn in its ploy to create troubles in China-US relationship, out of self-serving interests of some US politicians,” it said.

The Hong Kong government condemned the US government for deliberately making public the personal information of the officials, adding that such a deplorable move is a serious breach of privacy and personal safety and the Hong Kong government reserves the right to take any necessary legal action.

The city’s commerce secretary Edward Yau, who wasn’t sanctioned, warned that the “savage and unreasonable” sanctions could have blowback for American businesses in Hong Kong.

China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said the sanctions list “rudely tramples on international law” and “will be nailed to the historic pillar of shame forever.”




 

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