US bill on HKSAR condemned
BEIJING - The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, China's national legislature, on Thursday strongly condemned and resolutely opposed the passage of the so-called "Hong Kong Autonomy Act" by the US Congress.
This US move has grossly interfered in China's internal affairs and seriously violated international law, as well as the basic norms governing international relations, the committee said in a statement.
"Enacting the law on safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is completely China's internal affair, which no foreign country has the right to interfere with," according to the statement.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, and the Chinese government's governance over the HKSAR is based on China's Constitution and the Basic Law of the HKSAR, instead of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, according to the statement.
Hong Kong-related policies announced by China in the joint declaration have all been included in the Basic Law of the HKSAR and effectively implemented since Hong Kong's return to China. There is no case of the so-called violation of "international obligations" by China at all, according to the committee.
"We urge the US Congress and certain politicians to immediately stop meddling in China's internal affairs, including Hong Kong affairs, in any way," it said.
If the US side is bent on going down the wrong path, China will resolutely respond with all necessary countermeasures, the statement said.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee has expressed similar sentiment.
In a separate statement, the committee said the US move gravely interferes in China's internal affairs, and grossly tramples on international law and basic norms governing international relations.
National security is a basic precondition for the existence and development of a nation and it concerns the nation's core interests, according to the statement.
"No country in the world would ever turn a blind eye to acts and activities severely undermining its national security," according to the statement.
The Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has won firm support from all Chinese people including Hong Kong compatriots, according to the statement.
The US move is not about democracy or freedom of Hong Kong residents, but about containing China's development, it said, underlining that the plot of the anti-China forces in the United States will never succeed.
The implementation of the law will definitely help Hong Kong end chaos and start afresh, according to the statement.