China highly appreciates Russia’s position on Hong Kongrelated affairs

BEIJING - China fully agrees with and highly appreciates Russia’s recent positive Hong Kong-related statement, which stands as a strong illustration of the high level of the Russia-China relationship, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said yesterday. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press conference when asked about comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on tuesday. Lavrov said that Hong Kong affairs fall within China’s domestic affairs, while the United States’ threat to impose sanctions on China fully exposed their sense of superiority and impunity, which is not conducive to effective dialogue between the United States and China on other issues. Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of states, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era has continued to develop in a healthy and stable manner, the spokesperson said, noting that the two sides have always firmly supported each other, especially on issues involving their core interests. Reiterating that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and a local administrative region directly under the Central People’s

Government, the spokesperson said the legislation for the HKSAR to safeguard national security “is purely China’s internal affair, and no foreign country has the right to interfere.” The Chinese government is determined to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, implementing the “one country, two systems” policy, and opposing external interference in Hong Kong affairs, he said, adding that if anyone is bent on harming China’s interests, China will have to take all necessary measures to fight back.

(Xinhua)