Alex Lo

My Take | US sanctions are killing people

Whether against Hong Kong, Iran or the International Criminal Court, they are plain acts of hypocrisy and lawlessness

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The impounded Iranian crude oil tanker, Grace 1, is silhouetted as it sits anchored off the coast of Gibraltar on Saturday, July 20, 2019. Tensions have flared in the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks as Iran resists US sanctions that are crippling its oil exports and lashes out after the seizure on July 4 of one of its ships near Gibraltar. Photo: Bloomberg

Alex Lo

Published: 9:29pm, 15 Oct 2020Updated: 10:09pm, 15 Oct 2020

As Washington is set to impose sanctions against Hong Kong’s leaders, local anti-government figures cheer. I am just puzzled. A desperate city government trying to restore social order from violent unrest or repressing dissent and freedom? Take your pick. But either way, how is it any of America’s business?

It’s like China sanctioning United States police chiefs for cops’ brutality against protesters and killings against unarmed US citizens.

Under US sanctions, several hapless officials in Hong Kong have been targeted. Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah had to pay off a mortgage in full to Standard Chartered. And Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor may have problems shopping with her credit cards, if she still has any. But this is a woman who confessed to not knowing how to buy toilet paper when she was electioneering for her current job, so I doubt she does much shopping by herself.

According to the US Treasury Department, a formal report has been submitted to the US Congress identifying mainland and Hong Kong officials as responsible for China failing to “meet its obligations under the Joint Declaration or the Basic Law”.

I am unaware of the existence of such a treaty as the Sino-British-American Joint Declaration, but maybe Washington knows better.