China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office has condemned United States sanctions on Chinese officials over the role they played in a national security law for Hong Kong, calling it ‘purely double standards’, state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
The office expressed ‘strong indignation and condemnation’ at the U.S. State Department decision to sanction the 14 Vice-Chairpersons of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislative body.
The United States had on Monday imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on these officials over their alleged role in Beijing’s last month disqualification of elected opposition legislators in Hong Kong. A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry’s office of the commissioner to Hong Kong also condemned the U.S. move.
‘This bullying by the United States once again reveals its evil intention to create chaos in Hong Kong and harm China’s sovereignty and security,’ the spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday.
This sanction is coming as a reaction to the Hong Kong crackdown on pro-democracy in recent times. Police had on Wednesday arrested three former opposition lawmakers for disrupting legislative meetings several months ago, as concerns grew over a crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy camp. Posts on the Facebook accounts of Ted Hui, Eddie Chu and Raymond Chan said they were arrested in relation to the incidents in the legislature’s main chamber. The trio separately disrupted legislative meetings by splashing pungent liquids and other items on two occasions.
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Hong Kong police said in a statement that they arrested three former lawmakers on charges of contempt in the legislature and intent to cause harm to others. Police did not identify them by name.
The pro-democracy camp has in recent months accused the Hong Kong government and the central Chinese government in Beijing of tightening control over the semi-autonomous Chinese territory in response to demands for more democracy. They say authorities are destroying the autonomy promised to the city, a global financial centre with greater freedoms than mainland China.
The three former lawmakers disrupted meetings debating the now-approved National Anthem ordinance, which criminalizes any insult to or abuse of the Chinese national anthem, the ‘March of the Volunteers.’ On May 28, Hui rushed to the front of the legislature, dropping a rotten plant and attempting to kick it at the legislature’s president.
Chu splashed a bottle of liquid in the legislature. One week later, Chan hid a pot of pungent liquid in a paper lantern and attempted to approach the front of the chamber, but dropped it after he was stopped by security guards. On the same day, Hui also splashed some liquid at the front of the legislature and was escorted out.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
