By Coconuts Hong Kong December 3, 2014 / 15:32 HKT
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China has called complains from the UK about of group of lawmakers being denied access to Hong Kong “useless”, despite plenty of grumbling in the House of Commons and British Prime Minister David Cameron branding it “mistaken”. Whoa there, Cameron, don’t blow a gasket!
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying stressed that the country could not abide governments or individuals “interfering” in Hong Kong affairs, adding, "If certain people in Britain still want to keep on like this, it is not only irrational and useless but like lifting up a rock to drop it on one's foot.”
If you’re confused as to what the hell that means, it’s another way to say you reap what you sow, according to a report in Reuters.
The row broke out on Saturday after members of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee – a delegation planning to visit Hong Kong as part of a Parliamentary inquiry scrutinising British diplomatic work in the territory since the 1997 handover – learnt they would be denied access to the city.
An emergency meeting of the House of Commons was called yesterday with lawmakers urging the government to take firm action, even if it means losing trade links with China.
Richard Ottaway, chairman of the Committee, which claims to be independent from the UK government, told Parliament the move is “an attack on the men and women of the free world”.
"We are China's partners not a distant third party. This will do nothing but damage Anglo-Chinese relations,” he added.
Other MPs claimed the action, unprecedented in the history of the Common Foreign Affairs Committee, already amounts to a breaking of the Sino-British declaration that promised Hong Kong would enjoy relative autonomy from China for 50 years under the “one-country, two systems” principle.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Anson Chan, Hong Kong’s “Iron Lady” and former head of the civil service, said China’s refusal to allow the lawmakers entry highlights the erosion of freedom in Hong Kong.
Photo: Wikimedia
http://hongkong.coconuts.co/2014/12/03/useless-china-tells-uk-complaints-are-futile-after-committee-banned-hong-kong
