By Sha Hua 

China said it would impose sanctions on 11 U.S. citizens, including Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, over their stances on Hong Kong, in retaliation for similar measures by Washington against Hong Kong officials on Friday.

"In response to the erroneous actions of the U.S., China has decided to impose sanctions today on those individuals who behaved badly on Hong Kong-related issues," said China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian during the daily press briefing on Monday, without providing further details on what the sanctions would entail.

Besides Mr. Cruz, of Texas, and Mr. Rubio, of Florida, Beijing also imposed restrictions on Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, as well as Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey. All are Republicans and hawkish on China. Mr. Zhao also named Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth, National Endowment for Democracy President Carl Gershman; and Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House. The list didn't include any members of the Trump administration.

Write to Sha Hua at sha.hua@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 10, 2020 07:03 ET (11:03 GMT)