US sanctions 6 senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials for rights abuses

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US has sanctioned six senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials to punish China for its ongoing crackdown on democracy, the State Department said Monday.

"Beijing and Hong Kong officials have used Hong Kong national security laws extraterritorially to intimidate, silence and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who were forced to flee overseas, including a US citizen and four other US residents," the department said in a statement.

In response, the US is sanctioning six individuals who have "engaged in actions or policies that threaten to further erode the autonomy of Hong Kong in contravention of China's commitments and in connection with acts of transnational repression," it said.

Those sanctioned include Sonny Chi Kwong Au, the Secretary-General for the Committee for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong, and Raymond Chak Yee Siu, the Police Commissioner of the Hong Kong Police Force.

The others were identified as Dong Jingwei, Dick Chung Chun Wong, Margaret Wing Lan Chiu and Paul Ting Kwok Lam.

As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property of the sanctioned persons that are in the US or in possession or control of US persons are blocked, the department added.