China sanctions Pompeo and more than two dozen US figures

China announced multiple sanctions against Trump administration officials and allies on Wednesday, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, just as former President Trump’s term ends and President Biden’s administration begins.

Twenty-eight people have been sanctioned by the Chinese government for their alleged involvement in violating “China’s sovereignty.”

The list of officials included Pompeo, Assistant to the President Peter Navarro, Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon.

“These individuals and their immediate family members are prohibited from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao of China. They and companies and institutions associated with them are also restricted from doing business with China,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The Chinese government cited “selfish political interests and prejudice and hatred against China” when announcing their decision to issue sanctions against the U.S. officials.

The ministry stated that “crazy moves” executed by these officials have “seriously disrupted China-U.S. relations.”

Pompeo this week labelled China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority a “genocide.”

“If the Chinese Communist Party is allowed to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against its own people, imagine what it will be emboldened to do to the free world, in the not-so-distant future,” Pompeo said, appearing to take a dig at the incoming Biden administration.

However, during the election season, the Biden campaign appeared the share the characterization.

“The unspeakable oppression that Uighurs and other ethnic minorities have suffered at the hands of China’s authoritarian government is genocide and Joe Biden stands against it in the strongest terms,” said the campaign at the time.

A Chinese official shot back at Pompeo on Wednesday referring to him as a “doomsday clown.”

“In our view, Pompeo’s so-called designation is a piece of wastepaper. This American politician, who is notorious for lying and deceiving, is turning himself into a doomsday clown and joke of the century with his last madness and lies of the century,” said Hua Chunying, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry.