US sanctions 6 Chinese and Hong Kong officials, drawing backlash from the city's government

The United States sanctioned six Chinese and Hong Kong officials who it alleged were involved in “transnational repression” and acts that threaten to further erode the southern Chinese city’s autonomy

HONG KONG — The United States sanctioned six Chinese and Hong Kong officials who it alleged were involved in “transnational repression” and acts that threaten to further erode the city's autonomy, drawing condemnation from the territory’s government Tuesday.

The six officials included Justice Secretary Paul Lam, security office director Dong Jingwei and police commissioner Raymond Siu.

The sanctions are expected to further escalate tensions between Washington and Beijing, who are already locked in friction over trade tariffs and other issues like Taiwan.

“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 U.S. citizen and four other U.S. residents,” the U.S. State Department said.

The statement dated Monday said the six officials sanctioned were linked to entities or actions that engaged in coercing, arresting, detaining or imprisoning individuals under the authority of the city's security law, or implementing the law.

The other three affected officials were Sonny Au, the secretary-general for the city's committee for safeguarding national security, and Dick Wong and Margaret Chiu, both assistant commissioners of the police.

Since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 to quell the 2019 massive anti-government protests, Hong Kong authorities have prosecuted many leading activists in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997. The crackdown