‘Stop Bill on Hong Kong’
Beijing slams US reps for backing law checking island’s autonomy
BEIJING: China demanded the United States stop advancing a Hong Kong-related bill and its interference in Hong Kong affairs, after US lawmakers held a news conference to back the Bill.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a bipartisan group of members of Congress held Thursday’s media event on the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019”.
Hong Kong separatists, including Joshua Wong Chifung and Denise Ho Wan-see, attended the event.
China is strongly dissatisfied and opposed to the move, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
Pelosi and other US politicians “failed to distinguish right from wrong” despite China repeatedly expressing its solemn stance over US meddling in Hong Kong affairs, Geng said on Thursday.
They were “brutally interfering in China’s internal affairs” by threatening to advance the Bill, contacting Hong Kong separatists and making irresponsible remarks over Hong Kong affairs, Geng added.
He reiterated that no foreign forces are allowed to interfere in Hong Kong affairs, which belong to China’s internal affairs.
“We urge the US to stop its interference in Hong Kong affairs, advancing the Bill, endorsing Hong Kong’s violent and radical forces as well as separatists and abetting words and deeds that harm the prosperity of the region,” Geng said.
The Office of the Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong also slammed the move, which stands at odds with the US’ “claimed support for ‘one country, two systems’” and has “exposed their hidden political agenda”.
The office said in a statement that anyone without bias will acknowledge the people of Hong Kong enjoy unprecedented democracy, rights and freedom under the law.
The statement also emphasised no one has the right to carry out separatist activities or a “colour revolution” in Hong Kong, nor are they allowed to act above the law or disrupt the rule of law.
“Stopping violence, ending the chaos and restoring order represents the freedom and justice that the overwhelming majority of people in Hong Kong truly aspire to,” the statement said, urging the US politicians to “follow the mainstream public opinion in Hong Kong”.
Reintroduced in the US House of Representatives in June, the act calls for an annual assessment of Hong Kong’s autonomy before extending the US’ special treatment to the city, among other measures.