In a sharp condemnation following the latest US sanctions against the country, China on Monday compared outgoing Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to a ‘praying mantis’, a sort of an insect, AFP reported.

“People like Pompeo are nothing but laughable praying mantises who are trying in vain to stop the rolling wheels of history,” Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said in its first response to the sanctions on Monday.

“Hong Kong’s development from chaos to stability is unstoppable,” the statement further said.

Read more: Beijing accuses US of ‘bullying’ after Washington announced blacklisting of Chinese companies

The
metaphor that stems from an old Chinese idiom likens Pompeo to a
mantis which attempts to stop a chariot with its legs. Chariot here stands for China’s development.

The remarks followed fresh sanctions by the US on six officials, including Hong Kong’s sole representative to China’s top lawmaking body, in response to the recent arrest of 55 pro-democracy activists under the new security law.

Dismissing
US sanctions as ‘a political trick when all other tricks are
exhausted’, the Hong Kong government on Saturday slammed the sanctions as “insane,
shameless and despicable” — one of a host of recent statements from the
business hub’s authorities that channel the rhetoric used by the authoritarian
mainland.

Mike Pompeo in his final days in the office took various measures targeting Beijing ahead of
Wednesday’s inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

Earlier, the US blacklisted 11 Chinese firms including tech giant Xiamoi citing a threat to national security which led to more than 11% decline in market share of the company.