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By Jessie Pang
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's new police commissioner played down the impact of recent U.S. sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials, while pledging to do more to safeguard national security in the financial hub.
The U.S. sanctioned six senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials for "transnational repression" and further eroding the autonomy of Hong Kong this week, the first major move by the Trump administration to punish China over its years-long crackdown under sweeping national security laws.
But Hong Kong's newly appointed police chief Joe Chow said the U.S. sanctions were "barbaric" and proved Hong Kong's national security work had been successful and effective.
"This means we should do even more," Chow told reporters.
"This should not be a question of whether I should be worried about being sanctioned, but how to do better and more," he added.
China imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020 after mass pro-democracy protests, punishing acts such as subversion with up to life imprisonment. A second set of national security laws known as Article 23 was enacted last year.
Some Western governments say these laws have been used as a tool of repression, with media outlets and civil society groups shuttered and 316 people arrested, mostly democratic advocates.
Chow added that although Hong Kong's national security laws and enforcement since mass pro-democracy protests in 2019 had brought stability to Hong Kong, there were still what he called pockets of "soft resistance".
He singled out those trying to incite others through the media, culture and art sectors, which the police would focus on.
Chow succeeded Raymond Siu, who was among those sanctioned by the United States partly for coercing and placing HK$1 million ($128,500) bounties on the heads of 19 overseas Hong Kong activists, including some in the United States.
Chow declined to comment on whether the police would issue more bounties in the future.
($1 = 7.7805 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by James Pomfret and Christian Schmollinger)
