My Take | Once again, pointless sanctions are imposed on Hong Kong by America

It’s hard to fathom what Washington hopes to gain realistically by sanctioning six more senior Hong Kong officials. But US vindictiveness knows no bounds. The United States is still smarting over its inability to exploit Hong Kong as an international hub for foreign espionage and interference after the introduction of the national security law.

Its latest local victims? Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok and retired police commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee; Sonny Au Chi-kwong, secretary general of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong; Dong Jingwei, director of Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security in the city; and assistant police commissioners Dick Wong Chung-chun and Margaret Chiu Wing-lan.

Their crimes? For enforcing the law – sorry, in the words of the US State Department, for “undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy” and carrying out “acts of transnational repression”.

There is no international treaty guaranteeing “Hong Kong’s autonomy” as a Chinese city, so it’s hard to see what the US means by “contravention of China’s commitments”.

Perhaps the US is referring to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a bilateral treaty between those two countries where “a high degree of autonomy” is promised. But how high or low? Presumably that’s something for the two sides who actually signed the treaty to decide.

Funny, though, that Washington thinks it can interject in any international treaty in which it took no part. But if so, the principle of reciprocity ought to apply for other countries. Perhaps China and the rest of the world should take action against any US breaches of international treaties.

There have been breaches of Washington’s joint trade treaty with Mexico and Canada, its obligations under the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization, and its unilateral undermining of a multinational agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear development. The list is long.