China condemns ‘meddling’ in Hong Kong
HONG KONG — China’s government and pro-Beijing activists here denounced what they called foreign meddling in the territory’s affairs Thursday, as countries moved to offer Hong Kongers refuge and impose sanctions on China over a new security law.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman 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 U.S. to abide by international law and stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs, and he said President Donald Trump shouldn’t sign a sanction bill into law.
His comments came after the U.S. House on Wednesday joined the Senate in approving a bill to rebuke China over its crackdown in Hong Kong by imposing sanctions on groups that undermine the city’s autonomy or restrict freedoms promised to its residents.
If the bill becomes law, “China will definitely take strong countermeasures, and all consequences will be borne by the U.S. side,” Zhao said at a daily briefing.
Vice President Mike Pence in a television interview Thursday called the 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,” he told CNBC.
“We want to reset the trading relationship, but we want China to recognize international agreements, to recognize the human dignity of all of their people, and that includes all the people of Hong Kong.” he said.
Meanwhile, dozens of pro-Beijing activists and lawmakers protested outside the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong to demand the U.S. stop meddling.
The group said it gathered 1.6 million signatures online in support of its call.
Tam Yiu-Chung, Hong Kong’s delegate to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, said on public broadcaster RTHK on Thursday that the new security law imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong wasn’t harsh. If it were, no one would dare violate it, he said.
His comments came a day after thousands of protesters marched against the security law, which took effect in Hong Kong late Tuesday.
The security law outlaws secessionist, subversive and terrorist acts, as well as any collusion with foreign forces in intervening in the city’s affairs.
Critics say the law effectively ends the “one country, two systems” framework under which the city was promised a high degree of autonomy when it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
The maximum punishment for serious offenses under the legislation is life imprisonment, and suspects in certain cases may be sent to stand trial on the mainland.
Hong Kong police arrested a man on a London-bound flight Thursday on suspicion of having stabbed a police officer in the arm during Wednesday’s protests.
The 24-year-old man, surnamed Wong, was arrested on a Cathay Pacific flight after police got an anonymous tip about his travel plans, police said.
Wong didn’t respond to the crew when they called him by name, and he wasn’t in his designated seat. Police identified him after conducting a sweep of the plane.
Meanwhile, two protesters were sentenced to four weeks in jail for vandalizing a ticketing machine at a rail station in September. They were among nearly 9,000 arrests by police in antigovernment protests between last June and May this year.