BEIJING, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday expressed strong indignation and firm opposition to the U.S. House of Representatives' passing of the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act 2019, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a press statement.
What Hong Kong faces at present is not the so-called human rights and democracy issues, but the issue of ending violence and chaos, restoring order and upholding the rule of law as soon as possible, spokesperson Geng Shuang said in the statement.
By neglecting the truth and turning white to black, the U.S. House of Representatives called arson, smashing of shops, and violently assaulting police officers as human rights and freedom, which is a stark double standard that fully exposes some Americans' extreme hypocrisy on human rights and democracy and their malicious intentions to damage the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and contain China's development, Geng said.
The United States also has important interests in Hong Kong, he said.
"Should the act eventually come into law, it will not only harm the interests of China and the China-U.S. relations, but also severely undermine the interests of the United States," Geng said.
China will definitely take forceful countermeasures against the wrong decision of the U.S. side in order to firmly safeguard its own sovereignty, security and development interests, the spokesperson said.
"Hong Kong belongs to China and its affairs are purely China's domestic affairs that brook no foreign interference," he reiterated.
"We advise the U.S. side to get a clear understanding of the situation, rein in on the brink of the precipice immediately, and cease to promote the subsequent deliberation of the act and interfere in Hong Kong affairs and China's internal affairs immediately," Geng said.
