BANGKOK– China on Wednesday sanctioned a US lawmaker for “regular interference” in China’s internal affairs.
The sanctions against Congressman Jim McGovern include freezing his assets and property in China, banning any organization or individual in China from conducting transactions with or working with him, and denying him and his family a visa to enter the country, according to a statement from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It is one of a series of sanctions against US lawmakers and companies that China has announced as relations between Beijing and Washington deteriorate.
China has previously imposed sanctions U.S. Representative Michael McCaul and ex-representative Michael Gallagher on their support for Taiwan, an autonomous democracy that China claims as its own.
McGovern and McCaul introduced a bill calling for stronger U.S. support for Tibet, a region of China where human rights groups have criticized authorities’ treatment of ethnic Tibetans.
Relations between the United States and China have deteriorated, starting with a trade war in 2018 and then the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States has become increasingly critical of China’s human rights record, its handling of the pandemic and its actions toward Taiwan.
China has subsequently accused the US of interfering in the country’s internal affairs and pursuing a containment strategy to prevent China’s rise.
