Commissioner's office of Chinese foreign ministry slams article by US consul-general in Hong Kong

HONG KONG - Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Tuesday expressed strong disapproval of and firm opposition against US Consul-General Hanscom Smith's article on human rights issues.

The spokesperson of the commissioner's office criticized the article, titled "US Commitment to Human Rights in HK is Unwavering" and published on a Hong Kong newspaper, as a serious violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations by openly making unwarranted remarks about and meddling with Hong Kong affairs and China's internal affairs at large.

The spokesperson pointed out that what the United States had better do is to hold a mirror up to itself and reflect upon its own human rights problems.

The United States "has long turned a blind eye to the deteriorating human rights situation and the widening wealth gap at home, to the prevalent shooting, racial discrimination and xenophobia across society, and to its arbitrary decision to pull out of the UN Human Rights Council in order to evade international supervision," the spokesperson said.

"Isn't it despicable that such a country has proclaimed itself as a champion of human rights globally? The fact has proven that what is unwavering is not the US commitment to human rights, but its commitment to double standards on the issue and to interference in other countries' internal affairs under the pretext of human rights," the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson said that anyone without bias will recognize that the policies of "one country, two systems" and Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy have been earnestly implemented since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, and that human rights here have been fully safeguarded and democracy has made progress.

"Some people in the US, however, have chosen to tell outright lies, and cheer anti-China troublemakers in Hong Kong with the 'Hong Kong human rights and democracy act' in the name of protecting human rights, so as to sow more trouble in Hong Kong and broader China. Such plots are nothing but pipe dream that is doomed to fail," the spokesperson said.

Emphasizing that Hong Kong affairs are China's internal affairs and brook no external interference, the spokesperson urged US diplomats in Hong Kong to abide by international law, including the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and basic norms governing international relations, follow the Basic Law and other HKSAR legislation, fulfill their duties to facilitate US-Hong Kong economic and cultural cooperation, and immediately stop meddling with Hong Kong affairs and China's internal affairs as a whole.