Hong Kong: The United States sanctioned six Chinese and Hong Kong officials who it alleged were involved in “transnational repression” and acts that threaten to further erode the city’s autonomy.
The six officials included Justice Secretary Paul Lam, security office director Dong Jingwei and police commissioner Raymond Siu.
The sanctions are expected to further escalate tensions between Washington and Beijing, who are already locked in friction over trade tariffs and other issues like Taiwan.
“Beijing and Hong Kong officials have used Hong Kong national security laws extraterritorially to intimidate, silence, and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who were forced to flee overseas, including a US citizen and four other US residents,” the US State Department said.
The statement, dated Monday, said the six officials were linked to entities or actions that allegedly engaged “in the coercing, arresting, detaining or imprisoning of individuals” under the authority of the city’s security law, or
implementing the law