CE Says He Laughs Off "barbaric" US Sanctions

Chief Executive John Lee on Tuesday said he will just "laugh off" sanctions imposed on Hong Kong officials, saying such actions are "barbaric".

"The so-called sanction imposed on people in Hong Kong without justification, it is a very barbaric act. And I'm not going to comment on the effect of such a barbaric act, because officials in Hong Kong do what is right to protect the interests of the country and the interests of Hong Kong. So we will just laugh off the so-called sanctions," he told reporters ahead of the weekly Executive Council meeting.

On a superyacht berthed in the SAR that is tied to a Russian businessman sanctioned by western countries, Lee said, "We cannot do and will not do anything that has no legal basis."

The 56-year-old oligarch, Alexey Mordashov, has been the target of sanctions from the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

But the CE made it clear Hong Kong will comply with United Nations sanctions. "In Hong Kong, we will respect the rule of law, and we will do anything when there is a legal basis.

"We will comply with any United Nations resolution on sanctions, because Hong Kong has the legal basis to enforce it… that is our system, that is our rule of law."

On a government move to put on hold plans to enact Article 23 of the Basic Law, Lee said there’s a need to be more cautious when dealing with this piece of legislation.

"In terms of national security, risks are ever-changing, and we see rapid deterioration in geopolitics. In the past, we never imagined that some measures can be used to attack another country to threaten its national security. Against that background, we must be able to legislate an effective piece of legislation that can tackle extreme circumstances. Therefore, the legislation must be thorough and in-depth," Lee said.

"We do not want to come out with a piece of legislation with loopholes, requiring us to review it again too soon."

Some lawmakers had earlier revealed that the item was removed from the Legislative Council’s agenda, meaning the legislation won't be introduced in December as planned.