[Harlow:] Well, China has imposed sanctions on nearly a dozen Americans, including six lawmakers for what China is deeming, quote, "bad behavior." This is all related to Hong Kong and the latest round of back-and-forth in terms of sanctions between the two countries.
[Sciutto:] Well, yes. And China, putting Hong Kong very much under its thumb now, stifling dissent there, arresting a major newspaper owner.
[Harlow:] YEs.
[Sciutto:] CNN's Ivan Watson, he joins us now. Ivan, you've been covering this for a long time. Tell us the situation in Hong Kong right now, what China's doing exactly there that folks at home need to understand.
[Ivan Watson, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] Yes. On July 1st, the Chinese government rewrote the rules literally for Hong Kong, giving the Chinese Central Government the power to investigate, arrest and prosecute people here suspected of sedition, subversion, collusion with foreign powers. That was a big turning point. Hong Kong is supposed to be an autonomous former British colony until the year 2047, with certain democratic freedoms. I think what's surprising everyone here is how quickly the tolerance for dissent is being squelched. You've had at least two dozen people arrested under this controversial new national security law, a dozen opposition activists barred from running for elections, elections that were scheduled here for Hong Kong next month, that have now been postponed a year on the grounds of the coronavirus pandemic, which critics say is actually a pretext. And then the scene of some 200 Hong Kong police raiding the newsroom of a Hong Kong newspaper yesterday that just happens to be owned by one of the most ferocious critics of the Communist Part, a man named Jimmy Lai who has also been placed under arrest. I don't think anybody expected this curtain to come down this quickly over this city Jim and Poppy.
[Harlow:] Yes, decades, decades sooner than any
[Sciutto:] Yes
[Harlow:] anything was laid out. Ivan, thank you very much. Before we go
[Sciutto:] Yes, I yes.
[Harlow:] Sorry, I've just been reading
[Sciutto:] No worries.
[Harlow:] I've been reading during the show. It's a big day for you, Jim.
[Sciutto:] Thank you, thanks so much.
[Harlow:] Your new book is out. Quick pitch to people out there, because I'm about halfway through and it is gripping.
[Sciutto:] Listen, I took a look at four years of the world under Trump, under his foreign policy, upending not only relationships with adversaries but allies.