A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said “Any wrongful actions taken by the United States side on Hong Kong-related issues will be met with China’s resolute retaliation and reciprocal countermeasures.”
China will apply tit-for-tat sanctions on US Congress members, officials, and heads of non-governmental organisations Beijing said had ‘acted egregiously’ on Hong Kong-related issues.
The sanctions, announced by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came after Washington imposed sanctions on six local and mainland officials for their involvement in what they called ‘transnational repression’.
Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun described the US sanctions as a “grave violation of the principles of international law and the basic norms of international relations”.
Washington announced sanctions on national security and other high-ranking officials on March 31 as they were believed to have used the semi-autonomous city’s national security laws “extraterritorially to intimidate, silence and harass 19 pro-democracy activists”.
US targets China oil storage terminal in new Iran-related sanctions
