China sanctions US lawmaker Jim McGovern, critic of Beijing’s treatment of ethnic Tibetans

McGovern is a co-sponsor of a bill calling for stronger US support for Tibet

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US representative Jim McGovern is a backer of a US bill calling for more support for Tibetans in China. Photo: AP

Associated Press

Published: 9:30pm, 31 Jul 2024Updated: 10:35pm, 31 Jul 2024

China sanctioned a US lawmaker on Wednesday for “frequently interfering” in China’s domestic affairs.

The sanctions against representative Jim McGovern include freezing his assets and properties in China, prohibiting any organisation or individual in China from conducting transactions or working with him, and denying him and his family a visa to enter the country, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It is one of several rounds of sanctions against US lawmakers and companies that China has announced as relations have soured between Beijing and Washington.

China previously sanctioned US representative Michael McCaul and ex-representative Michael Gallagher over their support for Taiwan.

McGovern and McCaul introduced a bill calling for stronger US support for Tibet, a region in China where human rights groups have criticised authorities for the treatment of ethnic Tibetans.

Relations between the US and China have sunk, starting with a trade war in 2018 and then the Covid-19 pandemic. The US has been increasingly critical of Beijing’s human rights record, its handling of the pandemic and its actions towards Taiwan.