Officials in Hong Kong on Saturday expressed strong opposition to the latest sanctions imposed by the US, stressing they will never be intimidated by such an act of hooliganism, which will have no impact on them.
The US Department of the Treasury placed sanctions on 11 officials in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, including the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam, for “undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and restricting freedom of expression or assembly of the citizens of Hong Kong” on Friday.
“It is my duty and honor to safeguard the security of the country and Hong Kong. Foreign sanctions against me mean nothing to me. I will continue to concentrate on my duty,” said Commissioner of Hong Kong Police Chris Tang Ping-keung in response to the US sanctions, according to Hong Kong media reports. “The US has many laws to safeguard national security, but is highly critical of the security law for HK, fully reflecting its double standards and hypocrisy. Safeguarding national security is a matter of course, and attempts to intimidate through ‘sanctions’ will never succeed,” said Hong Kong Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu, state news broadcaster CCTV reported.
The HKSAR government’s Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Tsang Kwok-wai criticized the “sanctions” calling them a self-deception. “They have no effect on me,” he said, noting that the US, claiming to be a democratic country that respects human rights, but blatantly digs into personal privacy, like a hooligan. “We are not intimidated by them,” he said.
The latest sanction introduced by the US government on Hong Kong will definitely hurt Hong Kong-US relations, said Edward Yau, HKSAR Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development in an interview on Saturday morning.
–The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
