The US State Department announced on Monday new sanctions against China and Hong Kong, this time against four senior officials, who “continue to dismantle autonomy and freedoms” through “arrests for political reasons.”
The United States allegedly implicates the sanctioned officials in the preparation, adoption or application of the National Security Law that threatens “the peace, security and autonomy of Hong Kong.”
The deputy director of the Office of National Security Safeguard, a body established under the umbrella of the aforementioned law, Li Jiangzhou, the head of the National Security Division of the Hong Kong Police, Edwina Lau, and the senior superintendent of the Police, Steve Li Kwai Wah, as well as the deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, Deng Zhonghua, are the members of the list of this new round of sanctions.
These four senior officials will be banned from traveling to the United States and their assets will be blocked within the jurisdiction of the country or in the possession or control of American persons.
According to the statement issued by the State Department, these sanctions are “to hold key figures to account who are actively gutting the freedoms of the Hong Kong people and undermining their autonomy.”
Finally, the letter urges Beijing to comply with the international commitments assumed with the Sino-British Joint Declaration registered with the United Nations.
