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

China has banned former U.S. lawmaker Mike Gallagher and frozen his assets, citing interference in its internal affairs. Gallagher, a critic of China and supporter of Taiwan, responded by calling the Chinese Communist Party 'perpetually paranoid.' The ban includes prohibiting trade and cooperation with him.

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 governed 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".

Gallagher said the sanctions showed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was "perpetually paranoid" and viewed itself as in a struggle against Western democracy, universal human rights, and freedom of speech as part of what he called the "New Cold War." "As the CCP attempts to silence defenders of freedom, we should continue to shine a light on the CCP's growing authoritarian repression at home and aggression abroad and stand firm in promoting the security, freedom, and prosperity of America and its allies," Gallagher said in a statement via the Hudson Institute, a U.S. think tank where he is a fellow.

He added that he looked forward to returning to Taiwan in the near future. 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.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)