US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced sanctions on senior figures in the Chinese legislature, regarding the new national security law for Hong Kong.
New US government sanctions apply to 14 top officials in the Chinese legislature. In this list, notably Vice Chairman Wang Shen National Assembly Standing Committee and Supreme People's Procurator Cao Jianming.
The Chinese officials on the list will be banned from entering the United States. The sanctions are based on the executive order President Donald Trump signed in July on the Hong Kong issue, setting out many changes in the special treatment of the zone compared to mainland China.
Pompeo continued to criticize Beijing for meddling in Hong Kong. He condemned the actions of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National Assembly "nullifying the right of Hong Kong people to choose delegates" under the Basic Law.
Before the US State Department announced the new sanctions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hoa Xuan Oanh on December 7 warned Beijing is ready to "take all necessary countermeasures".
US-China tensions over Hong Kong have risen after Beijing passed a new national security law for the special zone in June. The law aims to prevent and punish acts considered separatist and subversion. state, terrorism and foreign intervention.
During the May session of China's National Assembly, Mr. Wang Shen affirmed the national security law aimed at preventing Hong Kong from becoming a "base of intrusion" and acts of sabotaging China.
Meanwhile, the opposition in Hong Kong and Western countries criticized the law affecting the special freedoms of the people of the special zone.
Several Chinese and Hong Kong officials have been put on the sanction list by the US since July for their involvement in the law, including Hong Kong Special Secretary Carrie Lam.