China sanctions US lawmaker Jim McGovern, critic of Beijing’s treatment of ethnic Tibetans
- McGovern is a co-sponsor of a bill calling for stronger US support for Tibet
China sanctioned a US lawmaker on Wednesday for “frequently interfering” in China’s domestic affairs.
The sanctions against representative Jim McGovern include freezing his assets and properties in China, prohibiting any organisation 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 China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It is one of several rounds of sanctions against US lawmakers and companies that China has announced as relations have soured between Beijing and Washington.
Relations between the US and China have sunk, starting with a trade war in 2018 and then the Covid-19 pandemic. The US has been increasingly critical of Beijing’s human rights record, its handling of the pandemic and its actions towards Taiwan.