Beijing: China warned Tuesday the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) against sending any ‘misleading signals’ to the ‘ultra-radicals’ who violently attacked the legislature in Hong Kong and said Beijing strongly opposes their ‘gross interference’ in the country’s internal affairs.
A group of protestors Monday broke through the Legislative Council (LegCo) building in Hong Kong and occupied it for several hours. They damaged the building and the furniture inside.
The violence followed weeks of mass protests over a controversial extradition law, which the locals apprehend could be used to send political dissidents from Hong Kong to mainland China for prosecution.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, became a Special Administrative Region of China in 1997, when Britain’s 99-year lease expired.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who came under intense criticism at home and abroad, had put off plans to pass the controversial legislation and apologised but the protests continued, calling for its complete withdrawal and her resignation.
It should be stated here that July 1 marks the 22nd anniversary of the handing over of Hong Kong to China by the UK in 1997.
China is in quandary over the continued pro-democracy mass protests which at a time drew over two million people onto the streets. Beijing has blocked all references to Hong Kong protests in the vast social media networks to minimise the political impact of such protests in the mainland.
Reacting to Monday’s protests, a spokesman of China’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office here termed the protestors who attacked the LegCo as ‘ultra-radicals’ and strongly condemned it.
The spokesperson expressed firm support for the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) government and police handling of the incident, and for holding the violent offenders criminally accountable in accordance with the law, state-run ‘Xinhua’ news agency reported.
“July 1 is a day of great festivity for people from all walks of life in Hong Kong to commemorate the return of Hong Kong to the motherland and the establishment of the HKSAR. Some ultra-radicals, however, under the excuse of opposing the HKSAR government amending related ordinances, stormed the LegCo complex in an extremely violent manner and wantonly damaged facilities there,” the spokesperson said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry meanwhile spoke strongly against the US, the UK and the EU, issuing statement backing peaceful protests in Hong Kong.
“I would like to reiterate that Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China and its affairs are purely domestic. We deplore and strongly oppose the relevant countries’ gross interference in China’s internal affairs,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters.
The US, the UK and the EU said the people of Hong Kong should have right to peaceful protests but urged them to refrain from violence and exercise restraint.
“We advise relevant countries to exercise caution in their words, deeds and stop interfering in Hong Kong’s internal affairs in any form and do not in any form support those engaged in violence and break the law. Do not send any misleading signals or make any wrong moves,” Shuang added.
PTI