HK calls US sanctions on its officials ‘despicable’

Bloomberg

Hong Kong’s government expressed its “utmost anger” towards a US decision to sanction six officials from the city and China, calling the move “insane, shameless and despicable.”
The US is attempting to “intervene” in the internal affairs of China and Hong Kong, and “obstruct” their efforts to safeguard national security, the city’s government said in a statement on Saturday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US would sanction the officials as part of President Donald Trump’s executive order on Hong Kong normalisation.
The move is the latest among a raft of measures the White House has taken to punish China after Beijing imposed national security laws in Hong Kong last year. The law has cast doubt on whether the former colony can still have the “high degree of autonomy” promised before the British handed it back to China in 1997.
The US has begun revoking the “special status” the city had enjoyed, and also sanctioned officials including Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
“The US acts are displaying double standards and hypocrisy, let alone blatantly breaching international laws and basic norms governing international relations,” the Hong Kong government said in the statement. The excuse that the US uses to sanction the officials was “lame” and “could hardly stand up to challenge,” it added.
A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong condemned the sanctions in a statement on Saturday, saying some Western politicians are “presenting a false picture” and beautifying those who are suspected of violating the National Security Law as “pro-democracy politicians and activists.”