Minutes after Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, China has imposed sanctions on Trump administration officials including on outgoing secretary of state Mike Pompeo and 27 other high-ranking officials, accusing them of “prejudice and hatred against China.”
Chinese foreign ministry said they 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.”
Among those listed by Beijing were former trade adviser Peter Navarro; former national security adviser Robert O’Brien and his former deputy Matt Pottinger; former health secretary Alex Azar; and former US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft. Former top Trump aide Steve Bannon and former security adviser John Bolton were also included.
The ministry said the sanctioned individuals and their immediate family members “are prohibited from entering the mainland of China, Hong Kong and Macao.” It also said they and entities associated with them were banned from conducting business with China.
Many of the 28 outgoing and former officials sanctioned by Beijing were considered to be influential in helping to steer the Trump administration’s more confrontational China policy, which saw clashes with Beijing on issues relating to trade, technology, regional security and human rights.
Thursday’s sanctions come in the wake of a series of final moves by the Trump administration targeting China, including sanctions aimed at officials and a declaration on its final day, that the Chinese government had committed genocide against Uyghur Muslims and ethnic and religious minority groups in its western region of Xinjiang.
Just over one week earlier, on January 11, Pompeo announced the US would lift decades-old restrictions on contacts between American and Taiwanese officials, a decision which prompted threats from Beijing.
China’s decision to impose sanctions against the outgoing Trump team follow comments made by Beijing in the hours preceding Biden’s inauguration, expressing hope that the new US President would “look at China rationally and objectively.”
At a regular press briefing Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying claimed the Trump administration had made numerous “fundamental mistakes” during the past four years resulting in “serious damage” to bilateral ties.
The Biden administration should instead, “look at China rationally and objectively, meet China halfway and, in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, push China-US relations back to the right track of healthy and stable development as soon as possible,” said Hua.
