China said on Friday that it has imposed counter-sanctions on American individuals, including former US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in response to US sanctions on Chinese officials in Hong Kong.
The sanctions are the first by China under its new anti-foreign sanctions law passed in June, and come days before US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman’s visit to China comes amid deeply strained ties.
China also imposed unspecified “mutual counter-sanctions” on current and former representatives of several organisations, including the Congress-Executive Commission on China and the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Other institutions nominated include the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council.
“The US side fabricated so-called Hong Kong trade advice, baselessly defamed Hong Kong’s commercial environment and illegally restricted Chinese officials to Hong Kong,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“These actions seriously violated the basic principles of international law and international relations and seriously interfered with China’s internal affairs,” the ministry said.
The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest Chinese measures, which came after Washington last week imposed sanctions on more Chinese officials over Beijing’s crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong.
The US government also last week warned of worsening business conditions in the former British colony that returned to Chinese control in 1997.
Ross could not immediately be contacted for comment.
It was the second time this year that China imposed sanctions on officials working under former President Donald Trump, who took a tough stance on Beijing and confronted it over trade, trade practices, human rights and other issues.
At the same time that Biden was sworn in as president in January, China announced sanctions against outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 27 other top Trump officials.
The Biden administration called that move “unproductive and cynical.”
Human Rights Watch’s China director Sophie Richardson, who was banned by China on Friday by name, called the move “hollow”.
“These are diplomatic tantrums designed to divert attention from Beijing’s involvement in crimes against humanity,” he said, referring to China’s alleged human rights abuses in the western region of Xinjiang. China has denied the allegations.
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