China sanctions U.S. leaders

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida found themselves targets of Beijing’s wrath over their support for protesters in Hong Kong. After the United States sanctioned 11 Chinese officials, China on Monday announced penalties against six GOP lawmakers and five leaders of private organizations, including Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth.

Why did Beijing make the move now? Last month, the Chinese government passed a sweeping national security law curtailing freedom in Hong Kong, drawing a firestorm of criticism from Cruz, Rubio, and others. The communist country’s state media accused the sanctioned Americans of interfering with “internal affairs.” Roth tweeted that the penalties were “little more than an effort to distract attention from its wholesale assault on the rights of the people of Hong Kong.”

Dig deeper: Read June Cheng’s analysis of increasing friction between the United States and China.