US sanctions 6 Chinese and Hong Kong officials over rights abuses

The US on Monday sanctioned six senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials for "transnational repression" and actions it said eroded the autonomy of Hong Kong, one of the first major moves by the new Trump administration to punish China over its crackdown on democracy advocates in Hong Kong.

"Beijing and Hong Kong officials have used Hong Kong national security laws extraterritorially to intimidate, silence and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who were forced to flee overseas, including a US citizen and four other US residents," the State Department said in a statement.

"Today, in response, the US is sanctioning six individuals who have engaged in actions or policies that threaten to further erode the autonomy of Hong Kong in contravention of China's commitments, and in connection with acts of transnational repression," it said.

Western countries have criticised Beijing for imposing the national security law on Hong Kong and using it to jail pro-democracy activists, as well as shutter liberal media outlets and civil society groups.

Chinese and Hong Kong authorities say the law, which punishes subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism with up to life in prison, has brought stability to the Chinese-controlled territory after large-scale anti-government protests there in 2019.

The sanctions announced on Monday block any US financial assets belonging to the individuals, including Dong Jingwei, a former senior official at China's main civilian intelligence agency who is now the director of Beijing's Office for Safeguarding Security in Hong Kong.

Dong was previously China's top spy catcher who had oversight of counter-intelligence. He was also vice minister of state security, a high-profile role which included hunting down foreign spies in China and nationals who colluded with foreign countries.

Sonny Au, Dick Wong, Margaret Chiu, Raymond Siu and Paul Lam - all security or police officials in Hong Kong - were also sanctioned for their involvement in the "coercing, arresting, detaining, or imprisoning of individuals" under Hong Kong's Security Law.

Democratic and Republican US lawmakers had pushed the Biden administration in 2024 to sanction all six officials.