Once again, pointless sanctions are imposed on Hong Kong by America
Washington has neither moral nor legal standing to punish top officials, from the secretary for justice to a now retired commissioner of police
It’s hard to fathom what Washington hopes to gain realistically by sanctioning six more senior Hong Kong officials. But US vindictiveness knows no bounds. The United States is still smarting over its inability to exploit Hong Kong as an international hub for foreign espionage and interference after the introduction of the national security law.
Its latest local victims? Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok and retired police commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee; Sonny Au Chi-kwong, secretary general of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong; Dong Jingwei, director of Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security in the city; and assistant police commissioners Dick Wong Chung-chun and Margaret Chiu Wing-lan.
Their crimes? For enforcing the law – sorry, in the words of the US State Department, for “undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy” and carrying out “acts of transnational repression”.
There is no international treaty guaranteeing “Hong Kong’s autonomy” as a Chinese city, so it’s hard to see what the US means by “contravention of China’s commitments”.