By Sha Hua

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

The measure is the latest volley in a diplomatic spat between the U.S. and China that has involved closing consulates in Houston and the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu and a previous round of reciprocal sanctions. President Trump has also been turning up the pressure on China on several fronts, holding military exercises in the South China Sea and signing two executive orders that would ban two China-based smartphone apps, TikTok and WeChat, from carrying out transactions with people or property within the U.S. jurisdiction.

Besides Mr. Cruz, of Texas, and Mr. Rubio, of Florida, Beijing also imposed restrictions on Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, as well as Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey. All are hawkish on China and have urged the U.S. government to adopt harder stances toward Beijing, such as sanctions on Chinese officials for their actions in Xinjiang or Hong Kong, or their role in the spread of the coronavirus.

Mr. Zhao also listed, among others, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth, National Endowment for Democracy President Carl Gershman and Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House. Members of the Trump administration weren't included.

The U.S. had accused 11 Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials of curtailing political freedoms in the city after Beijing implemented a national security law there last month. The Treasury Department targeted Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the city's police commissioner and several political secretaries responsible for implementing Beijing's decision to assert greater control over the former British colony.

"The United States stands with the people of Hong Kong and we will use our tools and authorities to target those undermining their autonomy," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a statement accompanying the decision.

China's move appears to be largely symbolic. It had already announced sanctions against Sens. Cruz and Rubio, and other U.S. officials last month after the Trump administration punished senior Chinese officials over the treatment of Uighur Muslims in the far-western Xinjiang region, effectively locking up any of their international assets and banning them or their immediate family members from traveling to the U.S. The U.S. then blacklisted the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a paramilitary organization that runs large-scale farms and other businesses in the region.

"Last month China banned me. Today they sanctioned me. I don't want to be paranoid but I am starting to think they don't like me," Mr. Rubio tweeted in response to the news of Beijing's measure on Monday morning.

In a commentary on Sunday, the Global Times, a state-backed nationalistic tabloid, urged Beijing to respond to U.S. sanctions with corresponding countermeasures only if they could stop escalation. The editors also argued that Beijing should refrain from tit-for-tat actions just to gain the moral high ground, saying that many measures and recent sanctions were driven by U.S. presidential election dynamics.

Mr. Roth, of Human Rights Watch, was refused entry to Hong Kong in January. In December, shortly after President Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act to monitor the city's autonomy, China had pledged sanctions on some nongovernmental organizations including Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and the National Endowment for Democracy.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 10, 2020 08:11 ET (12:11 GMT)

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