Don’t interfere in our internal affairs: China tells US
October 2, 2014, 5:54 am

The Occupy protestors in Hong Kong are threatening to occupy government buildings if the current chief executive does not resign [Wikimedia Commons]

“Secretary Kerry mentioned Hong Kong.  The Chinese Government has very firmly and clearly stated its position.  Hong Kong affairs are China’s internal affairs.  All countries should respect China’s sovereignty.  And this is also a basic principle governing international relations,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Washington on Wednesday.

Wang was meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest.

“I believe for any country, for any society, no one will allow those illegal acts that violate public order.  That’s the situation in the United States, and that’s the same situation in Hong Kong,” Wang said in an apparent reference to US police clashing with demonstrators at protest rallies in Ferguson, Missouri, where black teenager Michael Brown was shot to death by a white police officer in August.

“We believe that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s government has the capability to properly handle the current situation in accordance with the law,” Wang added.

Kerry had expressed US concern at the protests in the former British colony.

“As China knows, we support universal suffrage in Hong Kong accordant with the Basic Law, and we believe in open society with the highest possible degree of autonomy and governed by rule of law is essential for Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity.  And we have high hopes that the Hong Kong authorities will exercise restraint and respect for the protestors’ right to express their views peacefully,” Kerry told Wang on Wednesday.

Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, has accused China of “reneging” its pledge to the people of Hong Kong on the degree of democracy it would allow.

The “Occupy Central” movement started off early Sunday morning at the government headquarters in Admiralty in downtown Hong Kong, followed by mass protests in Central, Causeway Bay and Mongkok.

The protestors, mostly student-activists, are demanding China introduce full democracy so the city can freely choose its own leader.

Beijing decreed on August 31 that it would vet candidates wishing to run in Hong Kong’s 2017 election.

Hong Kong Chief Executive C Y Leung has urged “Occupy Central” organizers to end the protests immediately, saying the movement has been affecting Hong Kong people’s daily lives.

Leung said the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress has adopted a decision on issues relating to the selection of the Chief Executive (CE) by universal suffrage, confirming that the CE can be elected through “one person, one vote” from 2017 onward.

“It is understandable that different people may have different ideas about a desirable reform package. But it is definitely better to have universal suffrage than not. It is definitely better to have the CE elected by five million eligible voters than by 1,200 people,” he said.

TBP and Agencies