By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-01 02:36:26 | Updated at 2025-04-02 12:22:02
1 day ago
Central and local authorities have slammed the United States for sanctioning Hong Kong’s justice secretary, outgoing police chief and four other officials over “transnational repression” under the city’s national security legislation, with Beijing vowing to retaliate.
The Commissioner’s Office of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong and the city government on Tuesday condemned the latest round of US sanctions, while defending Hong Kong’s use of its national security legislation to pursue 19 activists overseas, including an American citizen and another four of the country’s residents.
“The so-called ‘sanctions’ from the US have once again exposed its ulterior motive to damage Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability, as well as suppress China’s development,” a spokesman for the country’s foreign affairs arm in Hong Kong said.
“China must take effective measures to resolutely retaliate.”
The US earlier announced its second round of sanctions against officials in Hong Kong, five years after Washington imposed economic sanctions on 11 local and mainland Chinese officials over the Beijing-imposed national security law.
The latest officials to be sanctioned include Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok and Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee, who is expected to retire after his term expires on Tuesday.
