U.S. Provides Senior Chinese Lawmakers to Hong Kong Sanctions Blacklist

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration included a lot more than a dozen senior Chinese Communist Social gathering officers to its sanctions blacklist on Monday for actions the U.S. suggests undermined Hong Kong’s autonomy.

The actions versus 14 vice-chairpersons of the Nationwide People’s Congress Standing Committee, the country’s top rated legislative human body, are part of a sequence of sanctions versus senior Chinese officers who Washington claims are liable for eroding Hong Kong’s political independence.

In asserting the move, U.S. Secretary of Condition Mike Pompeo reported that the Chinese Congress’s Standing Committee experienced been central to China’s efforts. “Beijing’s unrelenting assault towards Hong Kong’s democratic processes has gutted its Legislative Council, rendering the physique a rubber stamp devoid of significant opposition,” he mentioned.

The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a ask for for comment. Requested before Monday about studies of the sanctions ahead of their announcement, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Beijing condemned these types of moves as meddling in China’s sovereign affairs and defended the Chinese legislature as acting in accordance with the constitution and legislation.

The Countrywide People’s Congress Standing Committee officers are dependable for a new nationwide protection legislation imposed on Hong Kong that the Condition Division stated “effectively neutered the capacity of the men and women of Hong Kong to decide on their elected representatives.”