CNA Staff, Aug 7, 2020 / 11:00 am
The United States announced sanctions against Carrie Lam, the leader of the government of Hong Kong, as well as other officials in China on Friday, August 7. The sanctions were issued in response to recent actions by the Chinese government to curtail civil liberties in Hong Kong.
"The United States stands with the people of Hong Kong and we will use our tools and authorities to target those undermining their autonomy," said Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin in a statement released on Friday by the Treasury Department.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam was cited for her attempts to pass a controversial extradition law in 2019 which, Mnuchin said, caused "a series of massive opposition demonstrations in Hong Kong" last year, as well as Lam's role in "developing, adopting, or implementing the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region."
On July 1, a new National Security Law went into effect in Hong Kong. The law has been harshly criticized by politicians from both major parties in the United States as a clear violation of the civil liberties guaranteed to Hong Kong under the "one country, two systems" policy agreed at the time of the territory's handover from Great Britain.