China suspends Hong Kong visits by US military ships, aircraft, sanctions US NGOs

Reuters: The Chinese government has decided to suspend reviewing applications to visit Hong Kong by U.S. military ships and aircraft starting Monday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. Hua made the announcement at a press conference in response to the U.S. move of signing Hong Kong-related act into law. "The United States ignored China's resolute opposition and signed the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act into law, constituting a serious violation of the international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and severely interfering in China's internal affairs. China has expressed its firm stance earlier. In response to the unreasonable behavior of the U.S., the Chinese government has decided to suspend reviewing applications to visit Hong Kong by U.S. military ships and aircraft starting Monday," she said. China will also take sanctions against some U.S. non-governmental organizations for their role in the disturbances in Hong Kong, Hua said. "In the meantime, China will also take sanctions against some U.S. non-governmental organizations for their role in the disturbances in Hong Kong, including the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, the Human Rights Watch, and the Freedom House," she said. She urged the U.S. to correct their mistakes and stop words and deeds to interfere in Hong Kong affairs and other Chinese internal affairs. "China will take further necessary moves in accordance with the development of the situation, and will firmly protect the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, as well as China's sovereignty, security, and development interests," she said. She said relevant U.S. NGOs must pay their price. "Large amounts of facts and evidence have proved that relevant NGOs supported anti-China troublemakers in Hong Kong in various ways, deliberately instigated them to carry out extreme violent acts, and incited 'Hong Kong independence' forces to conduct anti-China separatist activities. They take major responsibilities for the unrest in Hong Kong and thus should be sanctioned. And they must pay the due price," she said.