U.S. slaps sanctions on 14 Chinese officials over Hong Kong crackdown

Washington (Reuters) – The United States on Monday imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on 14 Chinese officials over their alleged role in Beijing’s disqualification last month of elected opposition legislators in Hong Kong.

The move, which was first reported by Reuters overnight and sent Asian stock markets lower, targeted the vice chairpersons of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), the top decision-making body of the Chinese legislature.

The action was widely seen as part of an effort by outgoing President Donald Trump to cement his tough-on-China legacy and also box president-elect Joe Biden, before he takes office on Jan. 20, into hardline positions on Beijing at a time of bipartisan anti-China sentiment in Congress.

The Trump administration earlier slapped sanctions on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the Asian financial hub’s current and former police chiefs and other top officials in August for what it said was their role in curtailing freedoms in a crackdown on the territory’s pro-democracy movement.

“Beijing’s unrelenting assault against Hong Kong’s democratic processes has gutted its Legislative Council, rendering the body a rubber stamp devoid of meaningful opposition,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government last month expelled four opposition members from its legislature after China’s parliament gave city authorities new powers to curb dissent. The move triggered mass resignations by pro-democracy opposition lawmakers in the former British colony.

White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said in November the expulsion showed the “One Country, Two Systems” formula, under which Hong Kong’s autonomy was to be safeguarded after Britain handed the territory back to China in 1997, was now “merely a fig leaf”, and he promised further U.S. action.

Pompeo said the NPCSC has effectively “neutered” the ability of people in Hong Kong to choose their elected representatives. “These actions demonstrate once again Beijing’s complete disregard for its international commitments under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a U.N.-registered treaty.”

Beijing’s action heightened alarm in the West. The Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group – comprised of Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States – said last month the move appeared to be part of a campaign to silence critics, and called on China to reverse course.

The sanctions prohibit the 14 individuals and their immediate members from traveling to the United States. Any assets the officials might have within the United States will be blocked and U.S. individuals and companies will be banned from dealing with them.

The news kept global markets on edge as investors fretted over fresh Sino-U.S. tensions, which offset bets over more stimulus in Europe and the United States.