China sanctions top Trump officials minutes after Biden is inaugurated
President Biden has officially begun his White House tenure, but the Trump administration is still very much in the news.
Shortly after Biden was sworn in Wednesday, China's ministry of foreign affairs announced that dozens of former Trump administration officials and allies have been sanctioned and barred, along with their immediate family members, from entering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao. The list includes former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, former Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger, former trade adviser Peter Navarro, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. O'Brien's predecessor, John Bolton, and former White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon will also face sanctions, among others.
The decision is seemingly related to the tensions, which were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, between Beijing and Washington during the final year of former President Donald Trump's term.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Over the past few years, some anti-China politicians in the United States, out of their selfish political interests and prejudice and hatred against China and showing no regard for the interests of the Chinese and American people, have planned, promoted, and executed a series of crazy moves which have gravely interfered in China's internal affairs, undermined China's interests, offended the Chinese people, and seriously disrupted China-U.S. relations," a statement from Beijing's foreign ministry reads. Tim O'Donnell
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
The teenage 'maths prodigy' who turned out to be a cheat
Under The Radar Jiang Ping defied expectations in a global competition but something wasn't right
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Why China's young people are rejecting marriage
The Explainer Changing attitudes and a slowing economy are contributing to a slump in weddings
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cuba's energy crisis
The Explainer Already beset by a host of issues, the island nation is struggling with nationwide blackouts
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Did the Covid virus leak from a lab?
The Explainer Once dismissed as a conspiracy theory, the idea that Covid-19 originated in a virology lab in Wuhan now has many adherents
By The Week UK Published
-
Putin's fixation with shamans
Under the Radar Secretive Russian leader, said to be fascinated with occult and pagan rituals, allegedly asked for blessing over nuclear weapons
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Chimpanzees are dying of human diseases
Under the radar Great apes are vulnerable to human pathogens thanks to genetic similarity, increased contact and no immunity
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published