SEOUL – The United States punished 24 Chinese officials on Wednesday for undermining Hong Kong’s democratic freedoms, and days before the first scheduled meeting of senior Chinese and US diplomats since President Biden took office.
In diplomatic terms, the timing of the action was punctual and clearly intentional, and the protest began with talks between the Biden government and China continuing after a turbulent four years under President Donald J. Trump.
The Foreign Ministry has announced that it will impose financial sanctions on a number of officials, including a member of the Communist Party’s 25-member Politburo, Wang Chen, over an issue that Beijing has repeatedly said it was a internal political matter. Earlier sanctions imposed by the Trump administration prevented the same officials from traveling to the United States and freezing their assets in the country.
Foreign Minister Antony J. Blinken, who is visiting Japan and South Korea, said the move follows China’s latest attempt to defend Hong Kong’s autonomy by rewriting Beijing’s election laws and the changes by to stamp out his legitimate legislative communist party.
“This action undermines the high degree of autonomy promised to people in Hong Kong, and denies Hong Kongers a voice in their own government,” he said. Blinken said in a statement released in Asia this afternoon, referring to the renewal of the election.
He added that Britain had declared the election changes a violation of the agreement that restored the sovereignty of the former British colony to the Chinese in 1997. Mr. Blinken and other government officials have tried to highlight how China’s recent behavior in various issues relates not only to the United States but also to other countries.
At the beginning of a meeting with South Korea’s Foreign Minister on Wednesday, Mr. Shining China in the same breath as Myanmar, North Korea and other countries mentioned where he said that governing governments threaten democracy and stability.
“China is using coercion and aggression to systematically defend autonomy in Hong Kong, undermine democracy in Taiwan, abuse human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet, and violate South China Sea celebrations that violate international law,” he said. Blinken told the foreign minister. Chung Eui-yong.
Mr. Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd J. Austin III began their joint visit to Tokyo, where they strongly reprimanded China for what it called ‘destabilizing actions’, including attempts to threaten Japan over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands.
Separately, one of Mr. Biden’s senior adviser on Asia, Kurt M. Campbell, told The Sydney Morning Herald that there would be no improvement in relations between the United States and China before Beijing concedes in its black war weapon against Australia.
Such remarks encouraged traditional American allies and sparked outrage in China, repeatedly urging the United States to abandon a confrontational approach. Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and Mr. Blinken will meet with top Chinese diplomats, Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi, in Alaska on Thursday.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said on Wednesday that the latest round of Hong Kong sanctions fully exposes the sinister intentions of the United States to interfere in China’s domestic affairs. “
Earlier in the week, he accused the United States of a ‘zero-sum attitude’ that was ‘doomed to end up in the dustbin of history’.
“Those who wear colored lenses can easily lose sight of the right direction, and those entrenched in the Cold War mentality will harm others and themselves,” he said. Zhao said Monday.
The United States has previously imposed sanctions on Chinese officials under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which was approved by Congress and passed by Mr. Trump is signed into law. It authorizes the State Department, among other things, to restrict designated officials from using U.S. financial institutions.
Wang Chen, a veteran party leader who led the legislative changes passed last week, is the most senior Chinese official targeted so far. The Trump administration has previously imposed sanctions on Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam, the chief of police and the secretary of justice.
The ultimate impact on Chinese behavior has so far been minimal, but the latest designations have significantly expanded the number of officials targeted.
In total, the latest US sanctions would include 14 vice-chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which recently concluded its annual meeting in Beijing, and officials from the National Security Division of the Hong Kong Police Force, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. , influence. , and the Office of National Security.
“The law does not require them to act at any particular time,” said Julian G. Ku, a law professor at Hofstra University, Maurice A. Deane School of Law in New York. ‘They chose to drop it before the meeting in Alaska. It is therefore a further message that the Biden team will not be worried about offending China in public. ”
Overseas supporters of the Hong Kong opposition said the sanctions show that the Biden government is prepared to confront China. Samuel Chu, the managing director of the Washington – based Hong Kong Democracy Council, said in a statement that they were a “timely and clear reprimand for the crimes” of the Communist Party and the government in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, the pro-democracy camp was silent as it moved. Dozens of its most prominent members are in custody and are charged with undermining the election held last year, which authorities say is a violation of the new national security law. The law itself makes it illegal to seek foreign sanctions, which means that any positive comments in support of the move are criminally liable.
Steven Lee Myers and Lara Jakes reported from Seoul, and Austin Ramzy of Hong Kong. Claire Fu contributed research.