China summons US diplomat to protest sanctions against Chinese officials
Dec 08, 2020
Beijing [China], December 8 : China on Tuesday summoned a United States' diplomat in protests over the latest American sanctions against 14 Chinese officials after describing Washington's move as "hysterical political bullying" and warning of consequences.
This comes a day after US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, announced sanctions against 14 vice-chairpersons of the National People's Congress over the controversial national security law imposed on Hong Kong.
The most senior official affected is Wang Chen, who is also a Communist Party Politburo member. This is the second time the US has sanctioned a Politburo member. Chen Quanguo, also the Xinjiang party chief, was listed in July, South China Morning Post reported.
Chinese foreign vice-minister Zheng Zeguang summoned Robert Forden, who has led the United States mission to China since October, to protest the move, which he said was a serious interference in China's internal affairs.
"Hong Kong affairs are the internal affairs of China, and the US has no justification to intervene," Zheng said, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.
"China will make reciprocal countermeasures and continue to take all necessary measures to firmly defend the country's sovereignty, security, and development interests."
Zheng accused the US of being the "largest black hand" behind the chaos in Hong Kong, and of creating trouble for China through the excuse of human rights and democracy.
US State Secretary Michael Pompeo, in a statement on Monday, said that Beijing's "unrelenting" assault against Hong Kong's democratic processes has gutted its Legislative Council, rendering the body a rubber stamp devoid of meaningful opposition.
"One aspect of that assault has been the actions of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), which have effectively neutered the ability of the people of Hong Kong to choose their elected representatives in keeping with the Joint Declaration and Basic Law. These actions demonstrate once again Beijing's complete disregard for its international commitments under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a U.N.-registered treaty," the statement read.
China and the US are at loggerheads since President Donald Trump took office over many issues including trade, Indo-Pacific, coronavirus, Hong Kong and Uyghur. The tensions between the two countries have escalated in recent times.
