(TibetanReview.net, Aug01’24) – In an action that has only symbolic value at best, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has on Jul 31 announced “countermeasures” against US Congressman Jim McGovern, a Democrat representing Massachusetts, “in response to his frequent words and deeds in recent years interfering in China’s internal affairs and undermining China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.” McGovern has called the sanctions absurd and said he would wear it as a badge of honour.
McGovern remains one of strongest voices on Tibet in the US Congress and is a co-author of the “Resolve Tibet Act” which President Joe Bien signed into law on Jul 12. The historic law recognizes China’s armed annexation of Tibet in the middle of the last century illegal under international law and mandates US support for Tibetan people’s right to self-determination in their efforts to reach a negotiated settlement with Beijing.
Among the signees of the statement were House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Senator Todd Young, McGovern and Senator Jeff Merkley.
The sanctions announcement did not mention the Act, which China condemned with a blitzkrieg of media outpourings. These included resolutions by law-making and political advisory bodies both at the centre and in Tibet Autonomous Regional, spokesperson remarks, and opinion-piece criticisms by government-employed Tibet experts.
The Chinese government’s decision taken under the country’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law and which came into effect on the same day, listed the following countermeasures:
Movable, immovable and all other kinds of properties related to McGovern in China will be frozen.
Organizations and individuals in China are prohibited from engaging in transactions, cooperation and other activities with McGovern.
McGovern, his spouse, and his children will not be granted visas and will not be allowed to enter China.
McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Rule, has called the sanctions absurd and said he would wear his “as a badge of honor.”
“If (Chinese) leaders don’t like it when people speak out against their horrific human rights record, maybe they should improve their horrific human rights record,” McGovern wrote on the X social media platform. “They can start by ending their oppression of Tibetans, ending their genocide in Xinjiang, and ending their crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong.”
McGovern has no assets or business dealings in China, noted the AP Jul 31.
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.
The sanctions against McGovern follow similar measures against other US lawmakers, including Texas Representative McCaul and former Congressman Michael Gallagher, former chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, who have also been critical of China’s policies, noted newsweek.com Jul 31.