Six people have been sanctioned, including Ross and the Chinese director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) Sophie Richardson, as well as one institution: the Washington-based Hong Kong Council for Democracy (HKDC), according to a State Department press release. things. It is not specified what the counter-sanctions are.
This came in response to the restrictions imposed by the US administration in mid-July on seven Chinese officials working in the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China in Hong Kong to restrict the region’s promised autonomy. According to Beijing, this was a “violation of international law” and a “serious interference in China’s internal affairs.”
In announcing the retaliatory measures, the Chinese authorities for the first time referred to a law adopted in June aimed at countering “unilateral and discriminatory” sanctions imposed by other countries on Chinese entities. Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at the time that the purpose of the law is to protect the sovereignty and core interests of the People’s Republic of China.
US-China relations are now the worst in decades. The two sides are arguing over issues of trade, technology, human rights, Hong Kong’s autonomy, Taiwan’s status, the coronavirus epidemic and China’s territorial claims in the surrounding seas, among others.
