Beijing hits out at Brits for riots

CHINA has warned the UK “not to interfere in its domestic affairs” and keep its hands off Hong Kong as the fallout from protests in the former British colony continue to reverberate around the world.

Chinese official media have blamed meddling by Western governments for the unrest in Hong Kong amid an escalating spat between Beijing and the UK.

“Ideologues in Western governments never cease in their efforts to engineer unrest against governments that are not to their liking, even though their actions have caused misery and chaos in country after country in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia,” an editorial in the state-run China Daily said.

It came as the Chinese ambassador in London slammed comments by British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt backing the demonstrators, saying this had “damaged” relations between the countries.

A furious Liu Xiaoming said those who had illegally occupied Hong Kong’s parliament must be “condemned as law breakers”.

Hundreds of protesters broke into the Hong Kong legislature on Monday after a demonstration marking the anniversary of the 1997 handover to China under a “one country, two systems” formula.

It followed weeks of protests against a now-suspended extradition Bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland courts controlled by the Communist Party.

During the protests Mr Hunt gave his “unwavering” support to Hong Kong and the freedom of its citizens.

The China Daily accused Western forces of instigating unrest against Hong Kong’s government “as a means to put pressure on the central government”. “The violent behaviour that these Western agitators are emboldening

IDEOLOGUES IN WESTERN GOVERNMENTS NEVER CEASE IN THEIR EFFORTS TO ENGINEER UNREST CHINA DAILY

tramples on the rule of law in Hong Kong and undermines its social order,” it said.

An editorial in the English edition of the Global Times, published by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily, also criticised Mr Hunt.

He warned on Tuesday of consequences if China did not abide by the Sino-british Joint Declaration in 1984 on the terms of the return of Hong Kong.

Police said they had arrested 13 people after the protests on Monday at the city state’s legislature while 11 men and a woman were arrested in connection with a different protest that took place on Monday morning.