Washington:
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday imposed sanctions on 3 of his major targets — China, Iran and Cuba — in a final-minute push aimed in component at boxing in President-elect Joe Biden.
Five days just before he turns in his keys at the State Department, Pompeo vowed to punish China more than its clampdown in Hong Kong — a stance backed by Biden — but moved additional away from Biden’s aim of easing tensions with Iran and Cuba.
Pompeo condemned as “appalling” the huge operation on January 6 in Hong Kong in which China rounded up 55 people today such as an American lawyer, John Clancey.
“We condemn PRC actions that erode Hong Kong’s freedoms and democratic processes and will continue to use all tools at our disposable to hold those responsible to account,” Pompeo stated, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
President Donald Trump’s outgoing administration slapped sanctions on six people today more than the detentions such as Tam Yiu-Chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to China’s prime lawmaking body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.
It earlier took action against Hong Kong’s prime leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who acknowledged that as a outcome she was no longer in a position to use a credit card or hold a bank account.
China final year pushed by means of a draconian safety law in Hong Kong right after widespread and often violent protests that sought to preserve freedoms assured to the monetary hub just before Britain handed back the territory in 1997.
Pressure on Cuba, Iran
Antony Blinken, who will seem for a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday to be Pompeo’s successor, has vowed that the next administration “will stand with the people of Hong Kong and against Beijing’s crackdown on democracy.”
But the Biden administration is anticipated to shift course on Cuba and Iran, on which hardline stances have develop into points of pride in Trump’s Republican Party, which saw a increase in assistance in the important state of Florida from Cuban-Americans.
On Friday, the Treasury Department stated it was imposing sanctions on Cuba’s interior minister, Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas, days right after Pompeo stated he was placing the island back on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Pompeo pointed to the arrest in 2019 of Cuban dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer, who was held in a prison run by the interior ministry “where he reported being beaten, tortured and held in isolation.”
“The Castro regime’s repression of fundamental freedoms requires the condemnation and action of all countries that respect human dignity,” Pompeo stated, referring to former presidents Fidel and Raul Castro.
Biden has promised to spend interest to human rights in Cuba but also to bring back some of former president Barack Obama’s policies to normalize ties, such as by enabling Cuban-Americans to stop by and send funds.
Biden is also eager to return to a nuclear accord negotiated by Obama with Iran, believing that Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy that integrated a sweeping ban on oil sales has failed to curb Tehran on any front.
Pompeo announced fresh actions Friday on a Chinese steel firm and a UAE-primarily based developing supplies firm for working with Iran Shipping Lines, which is currently below US sanctions.
‘Sorrow, anger and pity’
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced the sanctions against his colleague as the work “of a regime that leaves a legacy of isolation and defeat in foreign policy.”
The US actions are certain to prompt calls of hypocrisy by China as the roundup in Hong Kong came the very same day as Trump supporters violently rampaged by means of the US Capitol in an work to block the ceremonial certification of Biden’s victory.
Pompeo condemned the violence but has fiercely defended Trump’s record amid increasing speculation that he will seek the presidency himself in 2024.
The former Kansas congressman was fiercely criticized this week by the editorial web page of the Kansas City Star which stated his tenure had resulted in the planet seeing the United States “with a mixture of sorrow, anger and pity.”
“He has spent the last few months doing his best to wreck the foreign policy of the incoming Joe Biden administration,” the editorial stated.
“America will be better when he leaves office. Kansas will be much better if he decides to stay away from his adopted home state forever.”
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)