Sen. Tom Cotton is accusing the Chinese government of attempting to blackmail the Joe Biden administration after the country placed sanctions on members of the outgoing Trump administration.
“Moments after President Biden took office, China sanctioned 28 members of the outgoing administration,” the Arkansas Republican tweeted Friday. “These sanctions were a warning, an attempt to blackmail Biden administration officials with personal financial ruin if they dare to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Cotton then called on the Biden administration to treat the sanctions as a “day-one assault on the independence of its foreign policy” and denounce the move in the “strongest possible terms and acting reciprocally.”
I call on the Biden administration to treat these sanctions as a day-one assault on the independence of its foreign policy by denouncing this intimidation in the strongest possible terms and acting reciprocally. pic.twitter.com/XgUbnYligm
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) January 22, 2021
On Wednesday, the Chinese government placed sanctions on 28 members of the Trump administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“Over the past few years, some anti-China politicians in the United States, out of their selfish political interests and prejudice and hatred against China and showing no regard for the interests of the Chinese and American people, have planned, promoted and executed a series of crazy moves which have gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs, undermined China’s interests, offended the Chinese people, and seriously disrupted China-U.S. relations,” China’s foreign ministry office said about the sanctions.
