Hong Kong leader admits U.S. sanctions impeding her credit card use

Chief Executive Carrie Lam was personally targeted, along with 10 other senior city officials, in the toughest U.S. action on Hong Kong since Beijing imposed the new law on the territory in late June.The move by Washington freezes the American assets of the 11 officials and criminalises any financial transactions in the U.S.The U.S. Treasury Department said Lam was sanctioned because she is "is directly responsible for implementing Beijing's policies of suppression of freedom and democratic processes".Lam told Chinese state media that although the measures are "really meaningless" for her, she now has problems paying by plastic."Of course it will have a little bit of inconvenience here and there, because we have to use some financial services and we don't know whether that will relate back to an agency that has some American business -- and the use of credit cards is sort of hampered," she told state broadcaster CGTN in an interview posted late Monday.