China has banned former U.S. lawmaker Mike Gallagher from entering the country and taken other measures in response to his words and actions that "interfered in China's internal affairs," the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
China will freeze Gallagher's assets in the country and ban organizations and individuals there from trading and cooperating with him, the ministry said.
It did not go into detail on what Gallagher had said or done.
Gallagher, a Republican, has been a fierce critic of China and a strong supporter of Taiwan, a democratically run island Beijing claims as its own. The Republican was chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party before he left Congress in April.
"I’d like to thank China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for this incredible recognition," Gallagher said in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon. "When I started the journey of public service, and even when I became Chairman of the Select Committee, I never dreamed of such an accomplishment. To be sanctioned by a genocidal, communist regime is truly the honor of a lifetime. Of course I could never have done it without my incredible colleagues and staff on the Select Committee, who truly deserve the credit."
In February, Gallagher visited Taiwan and met both then-president Tsai Ing-wen and current president Lai Ching-te. He told Tsai the trip was to show bipartisan support for the island and called her "a leader within the free world."
China rebuked Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday for congratulating Lai on his inauguration. Lai is regarded by China as a separatist.