China tells US, Britain to stop interfering in HK affairs

LONDON: China’s ambassador to London said on Monday foreign countries, including the United States and Britain, should stop interfering in Hong Kong’s internal affairs as protesters continued to battle with Hong Kong police.

“Some Western countries have publicly supported extreme violent offenders, the U.S. House of representatives adopted the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act to blatantly interfere in Hong Kong affairs, which are China’s internal affairs,” ambassador Liu Xiaoming told reporters.

“The British government and the foreign affairs committee of the House of Commons published China-related reports making irresponsible remarks on Hong Kong. What is worse certain British politicians even planned to present (an) award to a chief propagandist for Hong Kong independence.”

Hong Kong police laid siege to a university on Monday, firing rubber bullets and tear gas to pin back anti-government protesters armed with petrol bombs and other weapons and stop them from fleeing amid fears of a bloody crackdown.

Britain said it was seriously concerned by the violence on both sides at Hong Kong’s universities and called for safe passage and medical assistance be given to those trapped at the campuses. “We remain seriously concerned by the situation in Hong Kong and the escalation of violence between protesters and police. We continue to urge for calm and restraint on all sides and support the right to peaceful protest,” a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. “It is vital that those who are injured are able to receive appropriate medical treatment, and that safe passage is made available for all those who wish to leave the area,” Britain’s Foreign Office said.

China’s ambassador to the United Kingdom on Monday dismissed reporting by Western media on the Chinese government’s policies in Xinjiang as “pure fabrication” and “fake news”. United Nations experts and activists say at least 1 million ethnic Uighurs and members of other largely Muslim minority groups have been detained in camps in the western Xinjiang region in a crackdown that has drawn condemnation from the United States and other countries.

Beijing denies any mistreatment of the Uighurs or others in Xinjiang and says it is providing vocational training to help stamp out Islamic extremism and separatism and teach new skills.

Asked in London about a New York Times article based on leaked Chinese government documents the newspaper said revealed details of the clampdown in Xinjiang, the diplomat said: “I can categorically deny there is such a document. It is sheer, pure fabrication.”

China also called on the U.S. military to stop flexing its muscles in the South China Sea and to avoid adding “new uncertainties” over Taiwan, during high-level talks that underscored tension between the world’s two largest economies.

China confirmed on Monday that its first domestically built aircraft carrier had sailed through the Taiwan Strait for “routine” training and tests after Taipei accused Beijing of intimidation around upcoming elections.