Hong Kong Watch welcomes US sanctions on Hong Kong officials

On 31 March, the State Department announced sanctions on six Hong Kong officials for eroding the autonomy of Hong Kong, and in connection with acts of transnational repression. 

Hong Kong Watch welcomes these measures against Hong Kong officials who have directly or indirectly contributed to the arrest, detainment and imprisonment of political prisoners, and who have directly worked to undermine the rule of law and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong. 

The six officials were sanctioned pursuant to Executive Order 13936, which empowers the US government to announce sanctions, including asset seizures, against individuals who have been involved, directly or indirectly, in the implementation of the 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law and the 2024 Safeguarding National Security. 

In a statement announcing the new sanctions measures, the State Department commented that 

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 State Department also published the latest Hong Kong Policy Act report, and the Secretary certified that Hong Kong does not warrant differential treatment under U.S. laws as it did before its July 1997 handover. 

The six individuals are: 

  • Sonny Chi Kwong Au, Secretary General for the Committee for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong;

  • Dong Jingwei, Director for the Office for Safeguarding Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong;

  • Dick Chung Chun Wong, Assistant Commissioner of the Police, National Security; 

  • Margaret Wing Lan Chiu, Assistant Commissioner of the Hong Kong Police Force; 

  • Raymond Chak Yee Siu, Police Commissioner;

  • Paul Ting Kwok Lam, Hong Kong Secretary for Justice. 

Thomas Benson, Policy Advisor at Hong Kong Watch, commented: 

“The Hong Kong government continues to use the National Security Law as a pretext to arrest peaceful protestors and pro-democracy activists within Hong Kong, and intimidate exiled activists overseas. We welcome this new package of sanctions against Hong Kong officials complicit in the erosion of Hong Kong’s fundamental freedoms, and urge likeminded governments to adopt similar measures in order to push back against transnational repression.” 

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