Beijing has imposed sanctions on several former Trump administration officials, including ex-US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, accusing them of having “seriously violated” China’s sovereignty.
China announced the decision a day after Donald Trump’s administration declared that the repression and detention of more than 1m Muslim Uighurs in the northwestern Xinjiang region amounted to genocide.
The Chinese foreign ministry, according to a Financial Times report, said it was targeting 28 individuals, including Matthew Pottinger, the former deputy national security adviser who was one of the main drivers of Washington’s hawkish stance towards China.
The list also included Robert O’Brien, Mr Trump’s national security adviser, and John Bolton, one of his predecessors in the position.
“Over the past few years, some anti-China politicians in the US . . . have executed a series of crazy moves which have gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs,” the foreign ministry said.
The sanctioned former officials and their families would be barred from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, and companies and institutions associated with the 28 targets would be restricted from conducting business with China.
The Chinese foreign ministry disclosed the names of 10 of the targeted Americans. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for clarification.
The move marks the latest deterioration in relations between Washington and Beijing, which have reached their lowest point since diplomatic ties were established more than three decades ago.
“It’s primarily a signal meant for the outgoing Trump administration, and a settling of accounts. But at the same time, it’s a warning for future US politicians,” said Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University and a government adviser. “Broadcasting their names is a form of insult and humiliation.”
Mr Biden has vowed to take a tough stance against China, and last year described Chinese president Xi Jinping as a “thug”.
He recently appointed Kurt Campbell, a veteran Asia expert, to serve as a new tsar for the region, in a move that underscored the administration’s focus on China.
Antony Blinken, Mr Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, said this week that he disagreed with how Mr Trump had implemented his China policy, but thought the former president “was right in taking a tougher approach”.
Avril Haines, who is set to be Mr Biden’s director of national intelligence, also said she supported “an aggressive stance” towards Beijing. “Our approach to China has to evolve and essentially meet the reality of the particularly assertive and aggressive China that we see today,” she said.
Hua Chunying, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Thursday: “We hope the new administration will view China-US relations on a rational basis.”
Few experts believe Mr Biden will be as antagonistic as the Trump administration.
Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank, said it appeared to be the first time China had imposed sanctions on US officials. She said it was unclear how strongly Beijing would enforce the measures, since it had only recently begun using sanctions.
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