The Chinese government sanctioned a slew of former Trump administration officials on Wednesday, minutes after President Biden’s term began.
In a statement that accused those sanctioned of “crazy moves” and “hatred against China,” Beijing slapped former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, 2016 Trump campaign chairman Steven Bannon, and former National Security Advisers John Bolton and Robert C. O’Brien with penalties.
The sanctions bar the officials from traveling to China, Macau, and Hong Kong, and prevent them from doing business with the same. Economic adviser and trade war architect Peter Navarro and former HHS Secretary Alex Azar are also on the list of those sanctioned.
China announced the move within minutes of the officials’ departure from government, and within a day after the now-gone Trump administration sanctioned Beijing for “genocide” of its Uighur minority.
The full list of those sanctioned is unclear, but the statement says that it includes 28 American citizens “who have seriously violated China’s sovereignty and who have been mainly responsible for such U.S. moves on China-related issues.”
