BEIJING (Dispatches) – China’s foreign ministry office in Hong Kong said new U.S. sanctions on Chinese officials and its updated business advisory on the city are “extremely rude” and “extremely unreasonable” bullying acts with “despicable intention”.
The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on seven Chinese officials, Washington’s latest effort to hold China accountable for what it calls ‘an erosion of rule of law Hong Kong.’
The Biden administration also issued an advisory on Friday to warn U.S. businesses about ‘risks’ to their operations and activities in Hong Kong after China’s imposition of a new national security law there last year.
A spokesperson for the Commissioner of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement late on Friday strongly condemned the U.S. actions, saying they were blatant interference in Hong Kong and China’s internal affairs.
“(U.S.) worries about Hong Kong’s business environment is fake; its attempt to destroy Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability, endanger China’s national security, and hamper China’s development is real,” he said in the statement.
Hong Kong has been governed under the “one-country, two-system” model since the city — a former British colony — was returned to China in 1997.
However, the Chinese government says the United States and Britain have been fanning the flames of the unrest in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, a senior Russian official says Moscow and Beijing support polycentrism and believe that the world should not be unipolar while the West thinks quite the opposite and tries to hamper the development of the two major world powers.
Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the lower house of the Russian Parliament, made the comment in a post on his Telegram channel Friday on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Good Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.
“The most important thing that unites our countries is that we believe that the world should not and will not be unipolar. Russia and China consistently advocate the ideas of polycentrism and principles of equality in relations between countries, respect to national legislation, traditions and distinct political systems,” Volodin said.
Relations between the U.S. and Russia remain strained over several issues, including Syria, Ukraine and allegations of Russian interference in U.S. presidential elections.
The U.S. has imposed more than 90 rounds of sanctions on Russia in recent years. The measures have targeted state banks and corporations, the oil and gas sector, and top officials and business tycoons.
Moreover, the United States’ relations with China have in the past years grown increasingly tense over trade, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, the South China Sea and the coronavirus pandemic.