China has sanctioned a United States lawmaker for “frequently interfering” in China’s domestic affairs, in its latest effort to express displeasure with US politicians who have criticised China’s policy and practice.
The sanction against Rep Jim McGovern, a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, is symbolic, since the congressman has no assets in China or business dealings there. The sanction includes freezing his assets and properties in China, prohibiting any organization or individual in China from conducting transactions 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.
On the social media platform X, McGovern called the sanctions “absurd” and said he would wear his “as a badge of honour.”
“If (Chinese) leaders don’t like it when people speak out against their horrific human rights record, maybe they should improve their horrific human rights record,” McGovern wrote on X. “They can start by ending their oppression of Tibetans, ending their genocide in Xinjiang, and ending their crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong.”
McGovern is the ranking member of the House Committee on Rules, and he co-chairs the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. He also is a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which focuses on China’s human rights record.
Beijing has previously sanctioned a number of US lawmakers, former Trump administration officials, and companies. It sanctioned Rep. Michael McCaul, also chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and former Rep. Michael Gallagher over their support for Taiwan, a self-governed democracy that China claims as its own. In 2020 it sanctioned Rep Chris Smith and several US senators, including Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. McGovern and McCaul, along with two senators, last year introduced bicameral legislation calling for stronger US support for Tibet, a region in China where human rights groups have criticized authorities for the treatment of ethnic Tibetans. Congress approved the bill in June, and President Joe Biden signed it into law in July.
