USA announce sanctions to Hong Kong police chief

The US imposed sanctions on the Hong Kong police chief and five employees for the repression of civil liberties.

The sanctions « demonstrate the commitment of the Trump administration in holding those who deprive Hong Kong residents of protected rights and freedoms or who commit acts of transnational repression on American soil or against American people, » US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

The sanctions, imposed under an American law that advocates democracy in the Special Chinese administrative region, aims at Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-Yee, and the city’s Secretary of Justice, Paul Lam. Hong Kong Executive Chief John Lee is already subject to US sanctions.

The US State Department also showed the role of some of these employees in the efforts to “intimidate, silence and harass 19 pro-democracy activists” who fled abroad, including a US citizen and four residents in the US.

Beijing imposed the National Security Act in 2020, a year after massive and sometimes violent old manifestations.

US sanctions have the effect of freezing the goods of all these individuals in the US and the prohibition of any financial transactions with the visited.