(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and the U.K. plan to informally discuss Hong Kong at the United Nations Security Council on Friday after China and Russia blocked an American effort earlier this week to convene the council virtually to discuss Beijing’s efforts to ramp up pressure on the city, diplomats said.

The meeting comes as President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement about China on Friday after Beijing approved a resolution that Hong Kong democracy advocates say will lead to restrictions on freedom of speech and undermine the city’s independent judiciary.

While the U.S. and China have been clashing at the UN for years, tensions between the world’s two largest economies have escalated sharply in recent months, fueled by accusations from Trump that Beijing was slow to disclose the peril of the coronavirus. Facing re-election in November, Trump has threatened unspecified consequences for China over its handling of the pandemic and more recently its steps to assert more control over Hong Kong.

The U.S. president may also sign bipartisan legislation soon that would punish Chinese officials for imprisoning more than a million Muslims in internment camps. The measure would require Trump to sanction any officials found responsible for the Muslims’ oppression and revoke their visas.

Chinese officials at the country’s UN Mission in New York didn’t immediately respond to the new effort by the U.S. and U.K., but officials said on Twitter Wednesday that “legislation on national security for Hong Kong is purely China’s internal affairs,” and has “nothing to do with the mandate of the Security Council.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.