China warns US to stop meddling after Senate passes Hong Kong legislation

Chinese officials on Wednesday condemned a measure that unanimously passed the U.S. Senate this week in support of demonstrations in Hong Kong, accusing the U.S. of meddling in Chinese affairs, according to CNBC.

In an online statement, foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act is an inappropriate act of interference that Beijing “strongly condemns and resolutely opposes.”

{mosads}In a statement, the Chinese foreign ministry said it made “stern representations” to a U.S. Embassy official in Beijing, William Klein, after the bill’s passage, with Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu demanding an end to U.S. interference.

Hong Kong’s government also blasted the Senate’s passage of the bill and warned it could worsen tensions in the city, according to CNBC.

“The ‘Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act’ and the other act on Hong Kong are unnecessary and unwarranted. They will also harm the relations and common interests between Hong Kong and the US,” a government spokesman said in a statement from the Hong Kong government.

“Since the return to the Motherland, the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) has been exercising ‘Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong’ and a high degree of autonomy in strict accordance with the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. The ‘one country, two systems’ principle has been fully and successfully implemented,” the statement added.

Demonstrations have raged in the city since earlier this summer, initially over a bill introduced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam that would have allowed the extradition of certain criminal suspects to China.

Lam has since pulled the bill, but protesters have continued to call for her resignation and an independent probe into police brutality.