News / China

China ‘resolutely opposes’ G7 statement on Hong Kong

Tuesday, 27 August 2019 9:51 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 27 August 2019 9:51 AM ]

(L-R) Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson attend a working session in Biarritz, France, on August 26, 2019, on the third and last day of the annual G7 Summit. (Photo by AFP)

China has expressed “resolute opposition” to a joint statement from the Group of Seven (G7) countries that references the current unrest in Hong Kong.

“We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the statement made by the leaders of the G7 Summit on Hong Kong affairs,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.

“We have repeatedly stressed that Hong Kong’s affairs are purely China’s internal affairs and that no foreign government, organization, or individual has the right to intervene,” he added.

According to the statement, which was issued at the end of the meeting of G7 leaders on Monday, the group “reaffirms the existence and importance of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 on Hong Kong and calls for violence to be avoided.”

Unrest began in Hong Kong in June, when people started taking to the streets to protest a proposed bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited and stand trial abroad. Even though the government later dropped the bill, the protests have continued.

PressTV-Hong Kong leader warns violence won’t be tolerated

Hong Kong’s leader says her government has a policy of zero tolerance for violence, shortly after masked people were seen attacking police officers during a protest rally.

Hong Kong has been governed under a “one-country, two-system” model since the city — a former British colony — was returned to China in 1997.

China has said foreign countries, mainly the United States and Britain, have been provoking the protesters by issuing statements of support. Beijing has asked the two countries to stop meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs.

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