CHINA TOPIX

04/25/2024 05:04:00 am

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China Accuses British Lawmakers Of Hong Kong 'Interference'

Pro-democracy activists

(Photo : Reuters/Tyrone Siu) Pro-democracy activists clash with police in Hong Kong during a protest against Beijing’s plan to vet candidates for elections in the territory.

China accused British Members of Parliament (MP) of interfering in its internal affairs with regard to Hong Kong’s democratic reforms, reports said on Tuesday.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang reiterated Beijing is opposed to any foreign interference in its internal affairs. Qin once again confirmed that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and its democratic reforms fall within China's domestic affairs.

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Qin made the remarks after the National People's Congress (NPC) Foreign Affairs Committee sent a letter to the British parliament discussing the inquiry into the implementation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984.

The letter said the British MPs' inquiry sent a wrong political signal to the outside world and interrupted the democratic reform of Hong Kong. Apart from that, the letter added that the MPs' action might cause damage or negative impact on the bilateral relations between China and the UK.

The Chinese committee urged British lawmakers to act with caution on Hong Kong’s issue and take into consideration China-UK relations and Hong Kong's prosperity and stability. Beijing also demanded that the UK should stop meddling in Hong Kong's affairs and drop the probe on UK-Hong Kong relations.

Britain transferred Hong Kong to China in 1997 under an agreement that aimed to keep Hong Kong’s wide-ranging freedom and autonomy, reports said.

However, tensions rose in Hong Kong after Pro-democracy activists vowed to launch a civil disobedience campaign against the Beining's decision to vet nominations for the 2017 leadership election.

Critics described the NPC’s restrictive framework on elections as a betrayal of Beijing's promise to approved Hong Kong universal legal right by 2017.

The British Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Richard Ottaway told the media that he wanted to avoid any misunderstanding and did not want to irritate the Chinese. He said that the job of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee is to oversee whether Britain and China have complied with its obligations.

Ottaway said that if the Chinese committee indeed nominating a limited number of candidates for an election, it is proven that China breached the undertakings it gave in the 1984 deal.

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