Item in The Island, 22 January 2020, with this title “China slaps sanctions on 28 Trump administration officials, including Pompeo”
China has imposed sanctions on 28 former Trump administration officials, including outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, agency reports said yesterday. In a statement released just minutes after President Biden took office, China’s foreign ministry said it had decided to sanction those “who have seriously violated China’s sovereignty and who have been mainly responsible for such U.S. moves on China-related issues.”
The list of names features former Health and Human Service Secretary Alex Azar; former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro; former national security adviser Robert O’Brien; Kelly Craft, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; and Matthew Pottinger, who recently resigned as deputy national security adviser. Former national security adviser John Bolton and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon were also included.
The sanctions prohibit those individuals and their immediate family members from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao. They are also restricted from doing business with China, as are any companies or institutions associated with them.
“Over the past few years, some anti-China politicians in the United States, out of their selfish political interests and prejudice and hatred against China and showing no regard for the interests of the Chinese and American people, have planned, promoted and executed a series of crazy moves which have gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs, undermined China’s interests, offended the Chinese people, and seriously disrupted China-U.S. relations,” the ministry said.
The move comes just one day after Pompeo issued a forceful statement accusing China of committing genocide against Muslim Uighurs and other minority groups in its Xinjiang region, for which the U.S. sanctioned several Chinese officials in July. That was one of numerous instances of sanctions, visa bans and trade restrictions imposed on Chinese politicians and Communist Party officials in the Trump administration’s final year.
Relations between the U.S. and China deteriorated considerably under the previous administration, which took an unusually confrontational approach. Pompeo and other officials referred to China as constituting America’s greatest threat, as NPR’s John Ruwitch has reported.
In fact, Bolton appeared to celebrate the sanction against him, calling it “great news” in a tweet posted Wednesday afternoon. “I accept this prestigious recognition of my unrelenting efforts to defend American freedom,” he wrote.
It is unclear what changes Biden plans, but Ruwitch noted, “Even if the Biden team moves swiftly to put the U.S.-China relationship back on a less antagonistic track, Beijing will be wary after the dramatic changes of the past four years.”
Sri Lanka says it looks forward to working with the new US administration led by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to strengthen the relationship between both countries. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has congratulated President Biden on his assumption of office as the 46th President of the USA. “My government and I look forward to working together towards a stronger and mutually beneficial bilateral relationship,” he tweeted.
President Rajapaksa also greeted Vice President Kamala Harris, saying he looked forward to working together towards a strengthened bilateral relationship. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa also tweeted that he looked forward to working with the new President and Vice President to further strengthen the relationship between both countries.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the US, Ravinatha P. Aryasinha attended the inauguration of US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the US Capitol in Washington DC.
***** ****
A COMMENT from “Fair Dinkum” in Australia, 22 January 2021:
China waited until the Trump administration were out of office before imposing sanctions on these 28 Trumpists, so they cannot not respond. Biden has no reason to think about it given the damage these 28 have inflicted on America.
The boot is now on the other foot. China’s sanctions go beyond the 28 to include their family members and any companies and entities that have dealings with them. The sanctions will be permanent due to the damage they tried to inflict on China and Hong Kong.
These 28 insane Trumpists perpetually lied, cheated and used insideous and deceitful propaganda as a weapon to damage China’s interests and its relationships with other countries.
China’s responses is fair, reasonable and appropriate. The 28 Trumpists do not reprEsent or speak for the people of China, Hong Kong and Macau and they have no right to be involved in that region ever again. Their anti-China actions were never grounded in truth but driven by an insane ideology.
