BEIJING (Portal) – China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong has urged the British government to halt its “so-called half-yearly report on Hong Kong,” state media reported on Friday.
A ministry spokesman said the British report “grossly interfered with the affairs of Hong Kong and China’s internal affairs and seriously trampled on international law”.
Britain, in its latest report on the former British colony, announced in a written statement before parliament on Thursday, criticized the Chinese government’s systematic erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong and a crackdown by authorities on freedom of expression. The reports are issued every six months.
In a separate statement late Thursday, the Hong Kong government said it dismissed the “defamatory remarks and malicious political attacks” in the British report.
“Hong Kong SAR is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China,” the statement said, adding that the government had urged Britain “to respect the basic norms governing international relations and to cease interfering in the city’s affairs.” .
(Reporting by Liz Lee in Beijing and Farah Master in Hong Kong; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Gerry Doyle)