Chinese embassy condemns assault on senior HKSAR gov't official in Britain

LONDON -- The Chinese Embassy in Britain on Friday strongly condemned the assault by anti-China activists that injured a senior official of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government.

Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, secretary for justice of the HKSAR government, was pushed to the ground and sustained hand injury while being besieged and attacked by dozens of anti-China and pro-independence activists during a recent visit to Britain, according to a spokesperson of the embassy.

"We express strong indignation and unequivocally condemn the activists. We urge the British police to carry out a thorough investigation into this incident, bring the offenders to justice and strengthen security protection on Chinese personnel and institutions in the UK," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"The violent and lawless perpetrators who were organized via on-line communication committed a flagrant assault on the senior official of the Hong Kong SAR government. It has once again proved that their real intention is to destabilise Hong Kong, paralyse the SAR government and undermine 'one country, two systems,'" said the statement.

"Now, they are taking such violence abroad and into the UK. Their action deserves to be condemned not only by the entire Chinese people including the Hong Kong compatriots but also by the British public and the international community unanimously," it said.

The spokesperson stressed that ending violence and restoring order is "the paramount task in Hong Kong."

"The central government of China firmly supports the SAR government in administering Hong Kong according to law, firmly supports the Hong Kong police in enforcing the law and firmly supports the judicial organ in bringing criminal offenders to justice in accordance with law so as to protect the life and property of Hong Kong citizens and restore tranquility and stability in Hong Kong," said the statement.