China on Wednesday expressed strong dissatisfaction with and firm opposition to the recent comments on Hong Kong made by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, urging him to stop wanton interference in Hong Kong affairs.
"He seems to be fantasizing in the faded glory of British colonialism and obsessed with the bad habit of criticizing and lecturing on other countries' affairs condescendingly," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a daily press briefing.
Geng said China has lodged stern representations with Britain over Hunt's comments.
According to The Times, Hunt said on Tuesday that he expected China to honor the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a treaty signed in 1984 when Margaret Thatcher was the prime minister, and that "there will be serious consequences if that internationally binding legal agreement were not to be honored."
Geng said as Hong Kong returned to the motherland, the rights and obligations of the British side under the Joint Declaration were completely fulfilled.
On July 1, 1997, China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong and the Chinese government started administering it in accordance with the Constitution and the Basic Law, said Geng.
"The British side has no sovereignty over Hong Kong, nor does it have administrative power or supervisory power since its return. It has no so-called responsibility for Hong Kong at all," said Geng, calling it "sheer delusion with mawkish sentimentality" for the British side to "consider itself as a guardian."
"It is just shameless to say that the freedom of Hong Kong residents is negotiated for them by the British side," Geng said.
Geng said he wanted to remind Hunt that Hong Kong had no democracy at all during the British colonial rule, and the Hong Kong people had not even the rights to take to the streets to protest.
It is the Chinese government that protects Hong Kong people's rights of democracy and freedom in accordance with the Constitution and the Basic Law and fully implements the principles of "one country, two systems," Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong and a high degree of autonomy, said Geng.
In response to Hunt's remarks that the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) should not use the storming of the region's Legislative Council (LegCo) Complex by demonstrators as a pretext to "repress" its people, Geng said Hunt was calling black white by saying so as the storming of the LegCo Complex on July 1 was severe violation of law, Geng said.
Stressing that Hong Kong affairs are purely China's internal affairs that brook no foreign interference, Geng said China advises Britain, especially Hunt, to stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs as it is doomed to fail.
