Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the United States and the international community must make it clear to China that its actions in Hong Kong risk "severe" consequences.
Rubio made his comments in a column for The Washington Post on Tuesday.
"In particular, the administration should make clear that the United States can respond flexibly and robustly in Hong Kong," he said. "Our options are much more than just a 'nuclear option' of ending Hong Kong's special status under U.S. law.
"Hong Kong's special status — and therefore Beijing's ability to exploit and benefit from it — depends on the city being treated as a separate customs area, on open international financial connections and on the Hong Kong dollar's peg to the U.S. dollar. The United States both administratively and diplomatically can constrain these conditions.
"The administration also can impose sanctions against individual officials who have committed serious human rights abuses under the Global Magnitsky Act, which enables sanctions against foreign individuals or entities."
Rubio maintained that by "choosing violence and intimidation to silence Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist Party is once again showing its true nature." And he noted events in Hong Kong are "not simply China's internal affair."
Rubio warned: "The United States and other responsible nations are not watching from the sidelines."
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