China Summons US Diplomat Over “Barbaric” HK-Related Sanctions, Vows Retaliation

China has summoned the US ambassador from America’s embassy in Beijing on Tuesday, outraged over the latest Trump administration sanctions on 14 top Chinese officials over allegations they are suppressing democracy in Hong Kong.

Specifically it was the acting top US diplomat, Chargé d’Affaires Robert Forden, who Beijing lodged its protest to while vowing it will take “reciprocal” retaliation, according to Reuters.

This after China’s top diplomat Wang Yi urged for dialogue to remain open with the US at all levels, including exchanges and travel among officials.

On Monday the Department of the Treasury announced it had designated 14 individuals who are all members of China’s National People’s Congress, after last month Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government expelled four opposition member’s from its legislature. The officials were also seen as having a direct role in the controversial national security law which paved the way for the ongoing crackdown in Hong Kong, which has also seen prominent activists flee or arrested.

The sanctioned Chinese officials are now banned from travel to the US in addition to the targeted financial measures. As Reuters underscores, “This is likely the first time that all 14 vice chairpersons of China’s lawmaking body, the National People’s Congress, have come under U.S. sanctions.”

Here’s what Chinese vice foreign minister Zheng Zeguang told the summoned US diplomat:

“U.S. barbaric actions will only invoke the intense anger of the Chinese people against anti-China forces in the United States and cause 1.4 billion Chinese people, including our compatriots in Hong Kong, to fully recognize the U.S. devious intentions and strengthen the resolve of the Chinese government in implementing the Hong Kong National Security Law,” he said.

Forden responded to the formal Chinese diplomatic protest charge that Beijing has repeatedly suppressed freedom and democracy in Hong Kong while making politically motivated unjust arrests of peaceful activists, according to a paraphrase of a US embassy statement. 

In the meantime tensions continue to spiral over the Taiwan issue, with Beijing specifically condemning continued US arms sales to the breakaway republic.

China’s Ministry of Commerce is further demanding the US reverse course on its recent move to ban Xinjiang cotton and its products based on allegations of “forced labor” related to Uighur ‘reeducation’ and labor camps which have been widely reported on.