Hong Kong has rebuked US politicians’ call for sanctions against city officials over passing the new domestic national security law and convicting more than 40 opposition figures of subversion over their role in a 2020 unofficial legislative primary election.
A government spokesman said on Thursday night the “sanctions” mentioned in the politicians’ letter “smacked of despicable political manipulation” to intimidate the city officials safeguarding national security.
He added that the act “grossly interfered” in Hong Kong’s and China’s internal affairs, and violated international law and the basic norms on international relations.
“[Hong Kong] despises such so-called ‘sanctions’ and is not intimidated by such a despicable behaviour. [It] will resolutely continue to discharge the duty of safeguarding national security,” the spokesman said.
The remarks were made a day after the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calling on them to determine whether some Hong Kong officials met sanctions criteria.
They urged the US to enforce existing acts to “hold individuals accountable for eroding Hong Kong’s rule of law and democracy, and abusing human rights”.
“Imposing sanctions under these frameworks would send a clear and unmistakable message that the United States stands firmly with the people of Hong Kong in their struggle for democracy and human rights,” the politicians said.
Hong Kong Secretary of Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok, Dong Jingwei, head of the central government’s Office for Safeguarding National Security in the city, Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung and Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu Chak-yee are among the more than 20 officials, prosecutors and judges on the proposed sanction list.
The letter expressed concern over what they called the further erosion of democracy, rule of law and human rights in Hong Kong, specifically after the passage of the local security law in March and the conviction of most of the 47 pro-democracy activists in May over their roles in an unofficial Legislative Council primary election in 2020 that authorities deemed subversive.
The politicians said this represented significant escalation in dismantling Hong Kong’s autonomy and silencing dissent at the behest of the CCP.
In response, the city government accused the US politicians of hypocrisy, saying Washington had at least 21 laws regarding national security, and therefore was in “no position to point fingers”.
It also defended the court ruling against the 47 pro-democracy activists, saying the convicted people were planning to undermine or overthrow the existing political system and structure of the city.
