US announces visa restrictions for employees of Huawei and other Chinese tech companies

The US "will impose visa restrictions on certain employees ... of Chinese technology companies like Huawei that provide material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally," Pompeo told reporters at a State Department press briefing.

The top US did not elaborate on which employees would be targeted or how many people would be affected.

Pompeo's announcement comes a day after President Donald Trump announced he would sign a bill and an executive order punishing China for steps that are widely seen as an attempt to crush democratic freedoms in Hong Kong, and railed at China for "unleashing ... upon the world" the global coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement Wednesday, Pompeo said that certain employees will be ineligible for entry into the US "if the Secretary of State has reason to believe the alien's entry 'would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.'"

Putting companies on notice

"Companies impacted by today's action include Huawei, an arm of the CCP's surveillance state that censors political dissidents and enables mass internment camps in Xinjiang and the indentured servitude of its population shipped all over China," Pompeo said. "Certain Huawei employees provide material support to the CCP regime that commits human rights abuses," he added.

"Telecommunications companies around the world should consider themselves on notice: If they are doing business with Huawei, they are doing business with human rights abusers," Pompeo said.

Trump signed legislation Tuesday night that would impose sanctions on businesses and individuals that help China restrict Hong Kong's autonomy. He also released his executive order aimed at ending preferential treatment for Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China," Trump had said in the Rose Garden of the order. "No special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies."

This story is breaking and will be updated