US Congress has approved a bill rebuking China over its crackdown in Hong Kong amid protests against a strict "national security" law that outlaws so-called subversive or terrorist acts, as well as collusion with foreign forces intervening in the city's affairs.
Critics say the new law effectively ends the "one country, two systems" framework under which Hong Kong was promised a high degree of autonomy when it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
According to the bill, sanctions will be imposed on companies violating Hong Kong's autonomy. Earlier, the US had announced ending of Hong Kong's special status under US law, halting defence exports and restricting the territory's access to high-technology products from the US.
The Senate gave final legislative approval to the measure on Thursday, a day after the House approved it. It now goes to the White House.
Ahead of the Senate vote, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said no amount of pressure from external forces could "shake China's determination and will to safeguard national sovereignty and Hong Kong's prosperity and stability".
He urged the US to abide by international law and stop interfering in Hong Kong's affairs, and not sign the sanction bill into law.
If President Donald Trump signs the bill, "China will definitely take strong countermeasures, and all consequences will be borne by the US side," Zhao told reporters on Thursday.
The White House declined to comment, but in a television interview on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence called the new Hong Kong security law a betrayal of the international agreement China signed.
"President Trump has made it clear that we're going to be modifying our trading relationship and the trading status with regard to Hong Kong and we're going to continue to speak out on behalf of the people of Hong Kong and on behalf of human rights of people within China, Pence told CNBC.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also praised the sanctions bill as an urgently needed response to the cowardly Chinese government's passage of its so-called national security law."