China sanctions outgoing senior Trump Administration officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

BEIJING / WASHINGTON, D.C. — Almost immediately following the inauguration of 46th President of the United States Joe Biden, China announced sanctions against 28 high-level members of the Trump Administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The Chinese government justified the move as a response to the official’s “dangerous interference” in China’s internal affairs.

“Over the past few years, some anti-China politicians in the U.S., motivated by their selfish political interests, prejudice, and hatred against China, who showed no consideration for the interests of the Chinese and U.S. people, have planned and implemented a series of crazy moves that seriously interfered in the internal affairs of our country and undermined our interests,” the statement declared.

“The Chinese government is resolutely determined to defend the country’s national sovereignty, security and development interests. Therefore, we decided to punish 28 people who seriously violated China’s sovereignty and were mainly responsible for such U.S. moves on Chinese issues, including Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Stephen Bannon and other officials in the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump,” the statement added.

The sanctions come a day after the U.S. Department of State under Pompeo declared China’s repression and detention of more than 1 million Muslim Uighurs in the northwestern Xinjiang region amounted to genocide.

On Wednesday, the Biden Administration spokesperson for the National Security Council stated that Beijing’s sanctioning of former Trump Administration officials is “an unproductive and ridiculous step” and urged both Democrats and Republicans to condemn it.