The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on Hong Kong’s police chief, justice secretary and other officials over human rights concerns after China clamped down in the financial hub.

The sanctions on Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee and the others will block any interests they hold in the United States and generally criminalize financial transactions with them under US law.

The sanctions mark a rare action invoking human rights by the administration of President Donald Trump, who has described China as an adversary but has shown no reluctance to ally with autocrats.

The sanctions “demonstrate the Trump administration’s commitment to hold to account those responsible for depriving people in Hong Kong of protected rights and freedoms or who commit acts of transnational repression on US soil or against US persons,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Other officials targeted in the latest sanctions include Paul Lam, the city’s secretary for justice.

In response, Hong Kong strongly condemned the sanctions as “an attempt to intimidate” officials safeguarding national security and defended its moves to target pro-democracy figures abroad.

The sanction list “clearly exposed the US’s barbarity under its hegemony, which is exactly the same as its recent tactics in bullying and coercing various countries and regions,” the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

The commissioner’s office of China’s foreign ministry in Hong Kong also blasted the sanctions as “unreasonable” and said Beijing will take “effective measures for resolute retaliation.”

Hong Kong’s top official, Chief Executive John Lee, is already under US sanctions.

The officials were targeted in line with a US law that champions Hong Kong democracy.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/04/us-sanctions-hong-kongs-police-chief-justice-secretary/