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US ends sanctions on nine Hong Kong officials in gesture to China
The decision follows the expiration of an emergency declaration that underpinned US limits tied to Hong Kong’s preferential trade and export controls.
The United States has ended sanctions on nine Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials, including Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok and two national security staffers, a move political observers described as an olive branch aimed at improving relations with China after leaders met in May, the South China Morning Post reported.
Lawyers cited by the outlet said the lifting of sanctions against the nine individuals amounts to a “friendly gesture” and is significant, but that little has changed for dozens of other officials whose prior sanctions had expired and were then reassigned to a different list.
The report said the change is linked to Washington’s decision to let a national emergency declaration tied to an executive order concerning Hong Kong expire. Under that original order, the US had imposed six rounds of sanctions targeting 48 Hong Kong and mainland officials between 2020 and 2025.
According to the SCMP, even as the “flexibility” list expands to 39 other officials including Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, the new restrictions are described as largely unchanged, and sanctions compliance requirements for most businesses have remained broadly the same. The move comes days after Trump accused China of interfering in US elections, an allegation Beijing rejected.