The United States on Friday designated 11 Chinese and Hong Kong officials including Chief Executive Carrie Lam responsible for the erosion of autonomy of the Asian financial hub.
In a statement, US State Department said that Washington is designating 11 individuals including carrier Lam for their roles in "coercing, arresting, detaining, or imprisoning individuals under the authority of, or has been responsible for or involved in developing, adopting, or implementing, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong".
"These individuals include Carrie Lam, Teresa Cheng, Erick Tsang, Zheng Yanxiong, Eric Chan, John Lee Ka-chiu, and Chris Tang, (the Hong Kong police commissioner,). This law, purportedly enacted to 'safeguard' the security of Hong Kong, is, in fact, a tool of CCP repression," the statement read.
This action includes designations of Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau affairs office of the Chinese government's State Council, Zhang Xiaoming, and Luo Huining, the director of the Hong Kong liaison office, for being leaders or officials of an entity engaged in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, stability, or autonomy of Hong Kong.
The move will further infuriate China and plunged Washington and Beijing relations. The imposition of national security law in Hong Kong has further deteriorated the relations between the two superpowers.
This comes hours after United States President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday halting all transactions with Chinese company ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok as well as messaging app WeChat within 45 days citing national security concerns.
( With inputs from ANI )