The U.S. launched a round of sanctions in China on Monday against six senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials as it describes transnational repression as they suppressed pro-democratic activists on Hong Kong and U.S. land.
The move is the first step in the new Trump administration’s pressure on China to put pressure on Hong Kong’s human rights. The State Department said in a statement that officials used the city’s national security laws to “intimidate, silence and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who were forced to flee overseas, including U.S. citizens and four other U.S. residents.”
The approved officials include Dong Jingwei, China’s top national security official since 2023. In his former position as Deputy Minister of National Security of China, Mr. Dong led the country’s efforts to track dissidents and capture foreign spies.
Hong Kong Judge Paul Lam and Police Chief Raymond Siu are also one of six officials within the national security agency, with the police force being “forced, arrested, detained or imprisoned” for their role in “forced, arrested, detained or imprisoned” in the National Security Act.
Since widespread unrest, Hong Kong authorities have jailed dozens of opposition lawmakers, activists and others, including journalists, in the city amid national security crackdowns.
The State Department also released an annual report on Monday saying the Hong Kong government continues to use its extensive national security laws to undermine human rights and civil liberties in Hong Kong, and other Western countries have also criticized it. It noted that in the most recent December, the Hong Kong government provided bounty to information leading to the arrest of dissidents living abroad.
Hong Kong activists in the United States welcomed the move.
“Many of us are under relentless pressure and threats through transnational repression. It does mean that seeing the U.S. leads the officials who plan these actions are responsible.” Frances Hui, who received political asylum in the United States, represented a political asylum at the Hong Kong Conk Foundation in Washington. The family of overseas activists, including Ms. Hui, was questioned by the National Security Police in Hong Kong.
The Washington Embassy in Washington said in a statement that it enforced the laws, which were first imposed in 2020 after months of massive and massive support for democratic protests, was “just and necessary” to return stability and prosperity to Chinese territory. It also condemned the sanctions, calling it “a serious interference in China’s internal affairs and Hong Kong affairs.”
The Hong Kong government described the sanctions as “despicable acts” and acts of intimidation, “apparently exposing the barbaric acts of the United States.”
State Department sanctions impose restrictions on property ownership and financial transactions of individuals in the United States. The United States has approved dozens of senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials to issue travel bans and directives to freeze assets imposed in 2020 and 2021.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has long said outspoken critics of China’s human rights record that Monday’s action shows that the Trump administration has pledged to assume commitments to those responsible for limiting the freedoms of the Hong Kong people and pursue those based on overseas.
Willy Wo-Lap Lam, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, noted that while the sanctions are consistent with Mr. Rubio’s position on China, President Trump himself has not publicly emphasized his support for human rights in the region. The Trump administration has cut funds considerably to organizations that have long voiced to dissident communities in China and other countries, including Voice of America and Free Asia.
“Trump himself is not that interested in the situation in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong,” Lan said. “But this is just a card that has long been systematically competitive with China.”
