China sanctions former US congressman Mike Gallagher after trip to Taiwan

China's foreign ministry announced sanctions on another former US congressman on Tuesday, three months after he headed a bipartisan delegation of politicians to Taiwan.

The ministry said Mike Gallagher, former Republican representative from Wisconsin, "frequently made statements and took actions that interfered in China's internal affairs, undermined China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and violated China's interests in recent years".

Gallagher is banned from entering the country, and Chinese entities and individuals will be prohibited from engaging in transactions and cooperating with him.

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In addition, the authorities will freeze any property he has within Chinese territory, according to the ministry.

Gallagher was part of a congressional delegation that visited Taiwan in February. During the trip, he told then-Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen that "the United States, Democrats and Republicans, stands with Taiwan, for your freedom and for ours".

Beijing sees Taiwan as a part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. But Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

Beijing imposed similar sanctions on former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi and her close family, accusing her of "gross interference in China's internal affairs" after she paid a supportive visit to Taiwan in August, 2022.

And last year, Representative Michael McCaul from Texas was sanctioned by Beijing after his trip to Taiwan.

Gallagher served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2017 to last month.

He was formerly the chairman of the Select Committee on Competition with the Chinese Communist Party, and chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation, and sat on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

He has been a vocal critic of China and its policies, repeatedly accusing China of conducting "relentless espionage" against the US via intelligence units, and launching cyberattacks, hackings and propaganda on American citizens.

He considered Chinese-owned TikTok a national security threat "exploited by the Chinese government" and led the charge for a bill forcing TikTok to be sold to American entities within six months.

Gallagher is also a vocal advocate of decoupling from China. "We're at the beginning of a new cold war that will define American politics for a generation," he said.

He also accused the Chinese leadership of being "desperate to crush religion", and responsible for "genocide against the Uygur people", describing the holding of Uygurs in re-education facilities in Xinjiang as "being as the largest internment of an ethno-religious minority since the Holocaust".

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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