Staff Reporter.
China is sanctioning more than two dozen officials and members of former US president Donald Trump’s cabinet, including his secretary of state Mike Pompeo, for violating the country’s “sovereignty”.
The foreign ministry said Wednesday, “China has decided to sanction 28 persons who have seriously violated China’s sovereignty.”
This came close on the heels of the inauguration of Trump’s successor President Joe Biden in Washington.
Beyond Pompeo, those sanctioned include Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro, national security advisor Robert O’Brien, assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs David Stilwell, health secretary Alex Azar and UN envoy Kelly Craft.
Beijing also sanctioned former Trump national security advisor John Bolton and former advisor Stephen Bannon.
“These individuals and their immediate family members are prohibited from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao of China. They and companies and institutions associated with them are also restricted from doing business with China,” wrote the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.
The crumbling relationship between Washington and Beijing intensified under the Trump administration following an attempt from the world’s two largest economies to mend trade relations.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua has previously said the Trump administration ” is pressing the accelerator to trash China-US relations.”
“Certain U.S. politicians are so irresponsible that they will say whatever needs to be said to make China a target,” she added last summer.
Her comments followed a blistering speech by then US Attorney General Bill Barr in which he accused the Chinese government of human rights abuses, espionage and economic blitzkrieg.
“The People’s Republic of China is now engaged in an economic blitzkrieg—an aggressive, orchestrated, whole-of-government campaign to seize the commanding heights of the global economy and to surpass the United States as the world’s preeminent superpower,” Barr said during a July 16 speech.
In June, O’Brien slammed China for a laundry list of offenses before saying that “the days of American passivity and naivety regarding the People’s Republic of China are over.”
Pompeo, who has previously described Huawei and other Chinese state-backed businesses as “Trojan horses for Chinese intelligence”. In July, Pompeo announced that the U.S. was looking at banning TikTok as well as other Chinese social media apps, citing national security concerns.
The Trump administration has also squarely placed blame on China for the deadly health crisis caused by the coronavirus.