China 'already decided' to sanction US officials over Taiwan

Beijing

CHINA said that it "has already decided" to sanction some US officials over involvement in Taiwan issues, as the Trump administration prepares to hand over to President-elect Joe Biden.

"Based on the wrongful actions of the US side, China has already decided to impose sanctions on US officials who behave egregiously on Taiwan," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily briefing in Beijing on Monday, without elaborating. It wasn't immediately clear whether she was referring to an action already taken. She didn't say which officials were being targeted.

Ms Hua was responding to a question about a recent US move to lift decades-old restrictions on how its diplomats and other officials interact with Taiwan. China considers democratic Taiwan part of its territory, and the island has been a key source of tension as relations have worsened between Washington and Beijing.

China in October imposed unspecified sanctions on Boeing's defence unit, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies - as well as individuals from the US who "behaved maliciously" in selling arms to Taiwan - after the US State Department approved US$1.8 billion in arms sales to Taiwan.

A proposed trip to Taiwan earlier this month by US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft had drawn opposition from China, before being cancelled in the wake of riots at the US Capitol.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

Ms Hua also said that "based on the wrongful actions of the US side, China has already decided to impose sanctions on US officials, congress people and NGO personnel as well as direct family members" for their involvement over recent US moves in Hong Kong, without elaborating further.

Her comments came after a decision by the US on Friday to sanction six officials from the city and China, a move that Hong Kong's government called "insane, shameless and despicable".

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced that the US would sanction the officials as part of President Donald Trump's executive order on Hong Kong normalisation. It's the latest move by Washington to punish Beijing after it imposed a controversial national security law in the former British colony last June.

The US and China last year imposed tit-for-tat sanctions on each other amid clashes on fronts ranging from trade to the early handling of the novel coronavirus. The US's sanctions have included those on top officials involved in China's clampdown on Hong Kong, including the city's Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

China, meanwhile, has sanctioned officials including Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, a mostly symbolic effort to retaliate over US moves to punish Beijing for its treatment of minorities in the far west region of Xinjiang. BLOOMBERG