China Bans Former U.S. Lawmaker Mike Gallagher, Freezes Assets

China has banned ex-U.S. lawmaker Mike Gallagher from entering the country, citing interference in its internal affairs. The ban includes freezing his assets and halting trade and cooperation with him. Gallagher, a critic of China and Taiwan supporter, recently visited Taiwan, exacerbating tensions.

China has banned former U.S. lawmaker Mike Gallagher from entering the country and taken other measures in response to his words and actions that "interfered in China's internal affairs", the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

China will freeze Gallagher's assets in the country and ban organisations and individuals there from trading and cooperating with him, the ministry said. It did not go into detail on what Gallagher had said or done.

Gallagher, a Republican, has been a fierce critic of China and a strong supporter of Taiwan, a democratically run island Beijing claims as its own. In February, Gallagher

visited Taiwan and met both then-President Tsai Ing-wen and current President Lai Ching-te. He told Tsai the trip was to show bipartisan support for the island and called her "a leader within the free world".

China rebuked U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday for congratulating Lai

on his inauguration. Lai is regarded by China as a separatist.