Foreign Affairs Committee leaders are calling on President Joe Biden to impose tough measures against the Chinese following Beijing’s sanctions on former Trump administration officials.

A Chinese official accused U.S. officials of “carrying out ‘a series of crazy moves’ that ‘seriously interfered with China’s internal affairs,’ and seriously affected China-U.S. relations,” The Epoch Times reported.  

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of House Committee on Homeland Security, said that the Biden administration should be firm in its position that China’s actions are not acceptable.

"These sanctions are a brazen and baseless attempt to silence and intimidate officials that hold the CCP accountable for genocide and its takeover of Hong Kong,” McCaul said on Twitter. "The Biden admin must immediately make it clear that coercion will not be tolerated.”

Outgoing chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) also reacted through Twitter and said that “by sanctioning 28 outgoing national security officials, the CCP is already testing the Biden Admin’s resolve to continue a tougher, competitive approach towards China. Together, Republicans & Democrats must show Beijing we will not be deterred from defending U.S. interests.”

The sanctions were announced the same day Biden was inaugurated, the day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that the Chinese government has committed “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” against Uyghur Muslims in the region of Xinjiang.