This undated photo shows Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. (PHOTO / FMPRC.GOV.CN VIA CHINADAILY&.COM.CN)

China announced sanctions on 11 US officials Monday in response to US sanctions against officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian at a daily news briefing.

The sanctions, effective from Monday, are applied to US officials including Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz

Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton and Pat Toomey, and Representative Chris Smith are among those targeted by China's sanctions..

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Also under sanctions are Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy; Derek Mitchell, president of the National Democratic Institute; Daniel Twining, president of the International Republican Institute; Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch and Michael J. Abramowitz, president of Freedom House.

Hong Kong affairs are purely China's domestic affairs, in which no foreign forces have a right to interfere, Zhao said at a daily news conference, urging the US to understand clearly the situation, immediately stop its meddling and correct its wrong decision.