China summoned the acting top U.S. diplomat in Beijing on Tuesday to protest U.S. sanctions on Chinese officials over Hong Kong, and vowed to take "reciprocal" retaliation.
The United States on Monday imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on 14 Chinese officials over their role in adopting a national security law for Hong Kong and Beijing's disqualification last month of elected opposition legislators in Hong Kong.
This is likely the first time all 14 vice chairpersons of China's lawmaking body, the National People's Congress, have come under U.S. sanctions.
The sanctions came just after China's top diplomat Wang Yi urged the United States to maintain dialog at all levels and encourage exchanges between legislators and other groupings of people.
China criticized the sanctions. Its foreign ministry said on its website Tuesday that Chinese vice foreign minister Zheng Zeguang had summoned the acting representative in the U.S. embassy to express "solemn protest and strong condemnation."
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