Explainer | Hong Kong national security law: why has the United States imposed sanctions on top officials serving the city and how hard will the penalties bite?

Under Washington’s measures, the US-based assets of 11 officials serving Hong Kong are frozen, Americans and firms barred from dealing with them

But is the retaliatory move over the national security law a case of symbolism over substance?

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Hong Kong’s most senior politicians are among those being sanctioned by the US. Photo: Sun Yeung

Published: 9:00am, 9 Aug 2020Updated: 5:59pm, 14 Aug 2020

The Donald Trump administration has imposed economic sanctions on 11 city and mainland Chinese officials, including Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, as part of a series of measures designed to punish Beijing for the national security law it imposed on the city this summer.

Among those targeted were senior city ministers, retired police commissioner Stephen Lo Wai-chung and his successor, Chris Tang Ping-keung, as well as mainland officials, among them Beijing’s top envoy to Hong Kong, Luo Huining.

Politicians and academics are divided over whether the United States’ sanctions announced on Friday are substantive or symbolic. While some suggested the impact would be minimal, others warned of the consequences for US-linked businesses caught between the new restrictions and the national security law.

Here is what you need to know about the US move and its significance:

What is the scope of the sanctions and who issued them?

The economic sanctions were brought by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the financial intelligence and enforcement agency under the US Treasury Department.

US citizens and organisations or foreign nationals with US-based assets are generally barred from dealing with sanctioned individuals or entities.