Hong Kong protests: opposition lawmakers draft list of officials and police for US to target with sanctions

Secretary for Security John Lee and police commissioner Chris Tang among those targeted by opposition legislators for their roles in the protest crisis

The delegation met with officials in America for first time since Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act signed into law

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A Donald Trump impersonator joins other Hongkongers in Central last year to thank the US for passing legislation that requires the American government to annually assess the city’s autonomy. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 8:24pm, 11 Mar 2020Updated: 11:20pm, 11 Mar 2020

Opposition lawmakers have drafted a list of senior officials and police chiefs they accuse of human rights violations during the anti-government protests in Hong Kong to help the United States government impose sanctions under new legislation.

The move targeting the highest ranks of Hong Kong public life – including security minister John Lee Ka-chiu and police commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung – was revealed by three legislators on their return from a four-day trip to meet American officials in California.

Their visit was the first by a city delegation since US President Donald Trump signed into law the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act last November, which allows Washington to take diplomatic action and impose economic sanctions against the city’s government.

(Left to right) Legislators Charles Mok, Jeremy Tam and Kenneth Leung set out their plan to list potential targets for US sanctions. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Jeremy Tam Man-ho, lawmaker of the Civic Party, said that following discussions with American officials they would first target city officials who they believed had violated internationally recognised human rights in the areas of extraterritorial rendition, arbitrary detention and torture.

The first suggestions for the list include Lee, who was in charge of the now-withdrawn extradition bill that sparked the protests last June, former police chief Stephen Lo Wai-chung and his successor Tang, who oversaw the handling of protesters.