China has warned that continued U.S .meddling in Hong Kong is “doomed to fail” and threatened “firm counter measures,” after President Donald Trump passed two bills backing ongoing protests in the territory.
Washington has “ignored facts” and “blatantly supported violent radicals who oppose the rule of law” in Hong Kong, the Foreign Ministry of China said on Thursday.
The warning from China came following the passage of the “Hong Kong Human Rights” act by the U.S., and a U.S. law banning certain exports to Hong Kong’s police force.
China said: “Such an attempt aims to damage the practice of ‘one country, two systems’, and the path of Chinese national rejuvenation.”
China’s response comes on the heels of a similarly harsh statement from the local government in Hong Kong, which also slammed the bills for interfering in its internal affairs and “damaging relations.”
Hong Kong protests began in May over a proposed bill regulating extradition to mainland China. But, the proposed bill was withdrawn. As demonstrators ramped up their demands, they also became more violent, escalating their actions from roadblocks to hurling petrol bombs at police, beating up bystanders and setting them on fire, and occupying university campuses.
The U.S.-backed demonstrators have also roughed up journalists and civilians who sounded like they were from the mainland, and in one particularly gruesome incident on November 11, lit a man on fire outside a subway station. He survived, but with severe injuries.
The presence of US and UK flags at protests has led to China accusing external forces of fueling the unrest.
The rioters have smashed buildings, committed arson, attacked police officers who enforced the law rightfully and assaulted innocent citizens, seriously endangering the basic human rights of Hong Kong residents, including their personal safety and freedom of speech.
They also hurled petrol bombs into trains and stations, disabled public transportation, and besieged universities and threatened to turn them into riot bridgehead.
China insists that the unrest in Hong Kong – a territory recovered from the UK in 1997 after a century of colonial rule – is its internal affair. By the logic of some hawkish US lawmakers, however, their support and promotion of “democracy” overseas is an internal US matter and China’s protests over it amount to unwelcome foreign interference.
The statement by the Foreign Ministry said: Top of Form
The Chinese government and people firmly oppose the United States signing of the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 into law.
The statement said: The move is a serious interference in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs and in violation of the international law and basic norms governing international relations. It is a gross hegemonic move, the statement said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the U.S. bills aim to mess up and even destroy Hong Kong and the U.S., by introducing such acts, has violated basic norms governing international relations.
HK government denounces Trump’s signing of HK bills
The government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Thursday expressed its “strong opposition and disappointment” after U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law two congressional bills backing protesters in HKSAR.
In a media release issued Thursday morning, the HKSAR government said that the two bills, which count as meddling in Hong Kong affairs, were “unnecessary and unwarranted” and would harm the U.S.-Hong Kong relations and common interests.
The U.S. president approved S. 1838, the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019,” and S. 2710 on Wednesday.
The bills were passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last Wednesday and by the Senate a day before.
Since the bills’ passage in U.S. Congress, China has responded with solemn representations against the U.S. China summoned William Klein, the acting charge d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and expressed “strong condemnation” for Washington’s meddling in Beijing’s internal affairs.
“The two bills are unreasonable,” a spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that despite one of the laws being named after ‘human rights’ and ‘democracy,’ “in fact some of the provisions relate to export control and Hong Kong’s implementation of the United Nations sanctions.”
Noting that the US has “huge economic interests in Hong Kong,” the spokesperson also said the “government hopes that the U.S. will adopt a pragmatic attitude.”
The spokesperson reiterated that foreign parliaments “should not interfere in anyway” with the Chinese territory’s internal affairs.
China insists that the unrest in Hong Kong is its internal affair. By the logic of some hawkish US lawmakers their support and promotion of “democracy” overseas is an internal US matter and China’s protests over it amount to unwelcome foreign interference.
Trump backs Hong Kong protesters
An earlier report said:
U.S. President Donald Trump has approved legislation backing Hong Kong’s ‘pro-democracy’ protest movement, disregarding China’s repeated warnings for the U.S to mind its own business and stop meddling in China’s internal affairs.
The bill blazed through both houses of Congress earlier this month with virtually unanimous consent from lawmakers.
In addition to threatening sanctions over human rights violations, the law requires the State Department to “certify” once a year whether Hong Kong enjoys sufficient “autonomy,” though nothing has been exactly said about how officials will quantify that remains unclear.
China repeatedly warned the U.S not to underestimate China’s determination to defend its “sovereignty, security and development interests.”
By the logic of Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and some hawkish US lawmakers, however, their support and promotion of “democracy” overseas is an internal US matter and China’s protests over it amount to unwelcome foreign interference.
Trump said the contentious bills are being enacted in the hope that representatives of China and Hong Kong “will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all.”
The U.S. president also signed a second bill banning exports of crowd control munitions to Hong Kong’s riot police, including rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray.
Trump did note that certain provisions of the acts interfered with his power as president to conduct foreign policy, and will be implemented with that in mind, but did not specify which part of the bill conflicted with that authority.
Trump has personally denied any US role, but both parties and the establishment in Washington have repeatedly sought to back the “pro-democracy” HK demonstrators.
A misfortune for HK
The protesters burned a citizen of Hong Kong. They beat a Japanese tourist.
Many foreign universities began to help their students studying in Hong Kong to leave the city since the protesters besieged Hong Kong universities. They warned that the violence had reached a new level.
For months, some politicians in the U.S. have taken great pains to cover up the truth about Hong Kong. When they realized that their minions, namely the Hong Kong protesters, became increasingly unpopular among the public, and were even disgusted by the citizens, they had no choice but to go on the stage and make no longer secret of their true intentions.
The Hong Kong protesters seek more to insult and overthrow the government than to solve actual problems, said Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore, adding that this is a misfortune for both Hong Kong and the entire region.
During an interview with Joey Siu, a spokesperson for anti-China chaos in Hong Kong, British journalist Tim Sebastian confronted her with questions such as why their illegal activities were safeguarding the rule of law instead, why the attempt to kill the police officers was somehow self-defense and why didn’t they criticize the protesters beating those who disagree with them.
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