HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s markets watchdog is not aware of any aspect of US sanctions imposed on Hong Kong officials that will affect how financial firms carry on their normal operations in the city, a spokesman said on Saturday.
The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the territory’s current and former police chiefs and eight other top officials for what Washington says is their role in curtailing political freedoms in the territory.
“Many global firms have prior experience of properly assessing and responding to specific US sanctions to the extent they may affect any of their clients and related activities,” the spokesman for the markets watchdog said.
The Securities and Futures Commission “is not aware of any aspect of the (national security law) or the US sanctions announced on Friday that would affect the way in which firms carry on their normal operations in Hong Kong”, the spokesman added.
Meanwhile, Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong said on Saturday that sanctions imposed by Washington on senior Hong Kong and Chinese officials were “clowning actions” that would not frighten or intimidate Chinese people.
Separately, the Hong Kong government said the sanctions were “shameless and despicable” and represented “blatant and barbaric” interference in China’s internal affairs.
“We will not be intimidated,” a government spokesman said.
The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Luo Huining, the head of China’s Liaison Office, as well as Carrie Lam and other current and former officials that Washington accuses of curtailing political freedoms in the global financial hub.
The move accelerates rapidly deteriorating Sino-US ties, more than a month after Beijing imposed sweeping national security legislation on Hong Kong that drew condemnation from Western governments and sent a chill across the city.
“The unscrupulous intentions of the US politicians to support the anti-China chaos in Hong Kong have been revealed, and their clowning actions are really ridiculous,” the Liaison Office said in a statement. “Intimidation and threats cannot frighten the Chinese people.”
Luo, the most senior mainland political official based in the Chinese-controlled territory, said US sanctions on him indicated he was doing what he “should be doing for my country and Hong Kong”, according to the statement.
Luo has oversight over the implementation of the contentious security law that allows mainland security agents to be officially based in China’s freest city for the first time.
As well as Luo and Lam, the sanctions target Hong Kong police commissioner Chris Tang and his predecessor Stephen Lo; John Lee, Hong Kong’s secretary of security, and Teresa Cheng, the justice secretary. Xia Baolong, the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing, was also named.
Police chief Tang told local media on Saturday that maintaining the security of the country and Hong Kong was his responsibility, and foreign sanctions were meaningless.
The sanctions freeze any US assets of the officials, prohibit them from carrying out business in the country and generally bar Americans from doing business with them.
Beijing-backed leader Lam has previously told local media she has no assets in the United States.
The security legislation targets what Beijing broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison.
Beijing and the Hong Kong government have said the law will not affect rights and freedoms, and that it is needed to plug security loopholes. They said it will only target a small minority of “troublemakers.”
Fifteen people have been arrested under the law so far, including four aged 16-21 who were detained last week. – Aug 8, 2020, Reuters
