RUTHFULLY YOURS

The measures extend the confrontation between the U.S. and China over the governance of Hong Kong, where Beijing has stepped up suppression of dissent in the face of Western criticism. U.S. objections to Chinese policies in the former British colony have fueled bilateral tensions, along with discord over issues such as trade, technology and global influence.

In a statement on the new sanctions, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited Beijing’s plans—approved by Chinese lawmakers last week—to revamp the electoral system in Hong Kong, a move meant to ensure that only people whom China’s Communist Party considers “patriots” will be allowed to govern the former British colony.

Mr. Blinken said the 24 officials targeted in Tuesday’s action were deemed to have “reduced Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy.” All of these officials, who include senior Chinese lawmakers and Hong Kong-based security officials, had already been hit with sanctions by the Trump administration.

The new measures mean that foreign financial institutions that knowingly conduct significant transactions with these officials are now subject to U.S. sanctions, Mr. Blinken said.

The Trump administration’s sanctions against these 24 officials, announced between November and January, froze any assets they may have within U.S. jurisdiction and prevented their travel to the U.S.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian condemned the new U.S. sanctions and called on Washington to stop interfering in China’s internal affairs. Speaking at a routine briefing on Wednesday, Mr. Zhao told reporters that Beijing would undertake forceful measures, in accordance with the situation, to defend national interests and the rights of its citizens. China has previously imposed tit-for-tat sanctions on American lawmakers and Trump administration officials.

The new U.S. sanctions targeted 14 vice chairs of the Chinese legislature’s standing committee, the most senior of whom was Wang Chen, a member of the Communist Party’s 25-member Politburo. Other targets include senior officials in the central government’s national-security office in Hong Kong and the local police force’s national-security division.

The Trump administration had imposed the same measures last year on 10 other Chinese officials deemed to have contributed to the erosion of Hong Kong’s partial autonomy. Those people included the heads of central-government agencies with responsibilities over Hong Kong affairs, as well as the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, and top local law-enforcement officials.

The new measures aren’t expected to significantly affect the targeted officials, as earlier sanctions have already complicated their travel and financing outside China. Banks with U.S. ties and other countries often enforce U.S. sanctions for fear of penalties.

Even so, the move adds to U.S. diplomatic maneuvers this week that underscored the Biden administration’s plans to sustain pressure on China by rallying allies around a more united effort to counter Beijing’s assertive economic, foreign and military policies.

Ahead of his meeting with top Chinese diplomats in Alaska, Mr. Blinken embarked on visits to Japan and South Korea—both key U.S. allies—along with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in the first foreign trips by members of Mr. Biden’s cabinet.

Speaking on Tuesday in Tokyo, Mr. Blinken accused China of using coercive tactics to assert its interests in places such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang, and promised that the U.S. “will push back if necessary on China’s coercions or aggressions.”