Hong Kong decries latest US sanctions over opposition arrests as 'insane, shameless and despicable'

Hong Kong's government has lashed out at the United States for "insane, shameless and despicable" interference in the city's internal affairs after the departing administration in Washington slapped sanctions on six officials over the enforcement of the national security law.

Echoing the government's rejection of American intervention on Saturday was one of those on the latest sanctions list, Tam Yiu-chung, the city's sole delegate to China's top legislative body.

Both Tam and the local government said they fully supported Beijing in adopting appropriate countermeasures in response to the action, which followed the mass arrests of opposition activists earlier this month by Hong Kong police's national security unit.

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Apart from Tam, the US State Department also targeted two high-ranking Chinese officials involved with Hong Kong policy, and three senior police officers in the city.

A spokesman for Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's administration denounced the "coercive measures", accusing the US of attempting to interfere in China's internal affairs and obstruct Hong Kong's efforts to safeguard national security.

A spokesman for Chief Executive Carrie Lam's administration defended authorities' 'dutiful, faithful and lawful implementation of the law'. Photo: Nora Tam alt=A spokesman for Chief Executive Carrie Lam's administration defended authorities' 'dutiful, faithful and lawful implementation of the law'. Photo: Nora Tam

"The US government has exploited every incident and excuse to make slandering remarks about the national security law and attack the [People's Republic of China] and the [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] authorities in their dutiful, faithful and lawful implementation of the law," the spokesman said.

"We cannot help but suspect that the national security law has touched a nerve with foreign or external forces."

The city government also said the US was guilty of "displaying double standards and hypocrisy".

Washington had passed laws and taken sweeping actions "under the pretext of human rights, democracy and autonomy" during Hong Kong's anti-government protests in 2019, the spokesman added, but had itself breached international law in handling the recent siege of the US Capitol.

"It will not achieve its objective of implicit subjugation," the spokesman said, adding the administration had an "honourable duty to prevent, stop and punish" acts endangering national security, and would "not be intimidated".

In announcing the sanctions, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday night called the recent opposition arrests in Hong Kong "appalling".

"We condemn [People's Republic of China] actions that erode Hong Kong's freedoms and democratic processes and will continue to use all tools at our disposal to hold those responsible to account," Pompeo said in a statement.

In addition to Tam, the others hit by the new sanctions include You Quan, vice-chairman of Beijing's Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, and head of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, and Sun Qingye, deputy director of the central government's national security office in the city.

You was the first high-ranking Chinese official belonging to a unit directly under the party's Central Committee to be targeted by US sanctions over Hong Kong.

Also on the list were three officers with Hong Kong police's national security unit: Frederic Choi Chin-pang, Kelvin Kong Hok-lai and Andrew Kan Kai-yan.

Those sanctioned will have any US-linked assets frozen.

The three officers, in a joint statement on Saturday, described the sanctions as "unfair", and accused the US of "encouraging illegal acts and attacking Hong Kong's judicial independence and autonomy".

They added: "We will continue to do our work without fear, unswervingly safeguard the security of the country and Hong Kong, and strictly enforce the law."

Tam, meanwhile, described the sanctions as "long-awaited", saying he and other Hong Kong members of China's legislature would support retaliatory measures against the US.

"They just never gave up their attempts to meddle in Hong Kong affairs that were unrelated to them," he said. "I don't care about the little inconveniences caused by the sanctions, as I have no assets in the US."

(Top, left to right) Mainland officials You Quan and Sun Qingye, and local NPCSC delegate Tam Yiu-chung. (Bottom, left to right) Local national security police officials Andrew Kan, Kelvin Kong and Frederic Choi. Photos: Handout, AP alt=(Top, left to right) Mainland officials You Quan and Sun Qingye, and local NPCSC delegate Tam Yiu-chung. (Bottom, left to right) Local national security police officials Andrew Kan, Kelvin Kong and Frederic Choi. Photos: Handout, AP

Ip Kwok-him, an adviser to Lam's de facto cabinet and a local deputy to the National People's Congress, said the intermittent rounds of sanctions had now become the "usual tricks", and would not hamstring China's development.

With the action coming five days before Joe Biden is slated to assume the American presidency, Ip also urged the incoming administration to rethink the US' China policy.

Hong Kong's national security law was imposed by Beijing on the city on June 30 last year, following months of anti-government protests in 2019 that often descended into violence. The police force's national security arm arrested more than 50 opposition activists and former lawmakers for suspected breaches of the law earlier this month over their participation last year in an unofficial primary election to select candidates for Legislative Council elections.

Lam and some of her ministers are also among the individuals hit by previous rounds of US sanctions.

Overseas groups advocating for Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement welcomed Washington's latest move, with London-based Hong Kong Watch urging more countries to join the US as sanctions would be "most effective with multilateral action".

Meanwhile, an activist group said on Saturday that five Hong Kong protesters who reportedly fled to Taiwan had arrived in the US intending to seek asylum.

Through a statement issued by the US-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, the five now in exile said their hearts had been "filled with anxiety and all kinds of emotions" from the moment they left Hong Kong.

Local media reports said they faced charges of rioting, assaulting police and storming the Legislative Council complex during the 2019 social unrest.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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