China imposes sanctions on Pompeo and other Trump officials

China on Thursday defended its decision to impose sanctions against nearly 30 former Trump administration officials.

In a parting shot at the Trump administration late Wednesday, Beijing announced travel bans and business restrictions on Trump's secretary of state Mike Pompeo, national security adviser Robert O'Brien and U.N. ambassador Kelly Craft.

During a news conference in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said the move was legitimate and necessary to show the government's steadfast determination to defend its national interest.

She hit out at "some anti-China politicians in the United States" who, she said, had acted out of their "selfish political interests and prejudice and hatred against China".

She said China had repeatedly warned that those politicians would "definitely pay for the price for their crazy behaviour."

On Tuesday, Pompeo announced that he had declared China's repression of Muslim ethnic minorities a "genocide," possibly opening the door to new U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials.

The Trump administration had steadily ramped up pressure on China since last year but had increasingly so over the past several months.

During its last weeks in office, the administration had hit numerous officials with sanctions for their actions on Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea.

Hua said China hoped to work together with the new US administration to bring the bilateral ties "to the track of healthy and stable development".