Asian Stocks Fall as U.S. Prepares New Sanctions on China Officials

The Trump administration is preparing to impose new sanctions on up to 14 Chinese officials in response to the Hong Kong crackdown, Reuters reports. The group will include officials from Hong Kong as well as from mainland China.

In particular, officials from China’s parliament and members of the Communist party are likely to have their assets frozen, in addition to further financial sanctions. An announcement may take place before the end of this week.

“One thing that the market has been concerned about is that on his ‘Out of office’ Trump would look for some retribution on China. So this news speaks to that fear,” said Kyle Rodda, market strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne, to Reuters.

The Hang Seng index fell 1.23% while Nikkei 225 closed 0.76% in the red.

Last month, the official Beijing imposed a new bill that allowed disqualification of ‘unpatriotic’ legislators, paving the way for the entire Western-oriented caucus to announce their resignation.

Four incumbent legislators were disqualified while other candidates who support Hong Kong independence are now unable to run for the office.

“The political rule that Hong Kong must be governed by patriots shall be firmly guarded,” the Hong Kong liaison office said.

In August, the Trump administration placed Hong Kong’s top officials on the sanctions list, including the Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Another set of sanctions was introduced last month when four Chinese officials in Hong Kong’s government were banned from travelling to the United States and blocked from having any U.S.-related assets.

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