US ‘taking steps’ to impose visa restrictions on Hong Kong, mainland Chinese officials over national security law implementation
- US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller says country ‘deeply concerned’ over recent guilty verdicts in case of 47 activists
- ‘In response, we are taking steps to impose visa restrictions on PRC and Hong Kong officials responsible for implementing the national security law,’ he says
The US is taking steps to impose visa restrictions on Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials involved in the implementation of the city’s domestic national security law, the country’s Department of State has said.
“We are deeply concerned by the guilty verdicts from the national security law trial of pro-democracy organisers in Hong Kong,” department spokesman Matthew Miller said on his official X account on Friday.
“In response, we are taking steps to impose visa restrictions on PRC and Hong Kong officials responsible for implementing the national security law.”
Fourteen opposition figures were found guilty of subversion while two were acquitted over an election plot to topple the Hong Kong government, as verdicts were handed down in the city’s biggest and longest-running national security trial on Thursday.
The 16 were from a group of 47 politicians and activists prosecuted under the Beijing-imposed national security law when they held an unofficial “primary” election for opposition parties in 2020, which three High Court judges found was part of a wider plot to “undermine, destroy or overthrow” the government by creating a constitutional crisis after taking over the legislature.
The government earlier on Friday said it “strongly condemned and opposed the untruthful, slandering and smearing remarks made by some Western countries”, including the United States, Britain and Australia.
It issued a statement in response to criticisms from Western governments, politicians and NGOs over the guilty verdict on the 14 opposition figures.
It also said Hong Kong as a local administrative region continued to enjoy a high degree of autonomy.
“The core essence of the Sino-British Joint Declaration is about China’s resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong,” a spokesman said.
“It did not authorise the UK to interfere in Hong Kong’s affairs after its return to the motherland.”
A UK consulate spokesman said on Thursday the British government had been “clear” in expressing its concern about the case.
The Hong Kong government said it would continue to safeguard national security, and demanded that others stop interfering in China’s internal affairs.
