China slams US commission for 'interference' in HK affairs

China today slammed a US commission for organising a hearing over the implementation of the 'one country two systems' policy in Hong Kong, saying the American agency has always been biased on issues regarding Beijing.
"The hearing is an overt interference in China's internal affairs. China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed to it," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang.
The hearing of the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), 'Will the Hong Kong Model Survive?: An Assessment 20 years After the Handover', was held yesterday.
Geng said over the past two decades, the policies of 'one country, two systems', 'Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong' and a high degree of autonomy had been implemented in effect.

"This is a fact accepted by anyone without prejudice," he told a daily press briefing.
The spokesman said the CECC has always been biased on issues regarding China.

"The hearing, which said the 'one country, two systems' model met encroachments, and press freedom and judicial independence were threatened, disregard the fact and has ulterior motives," Geng said.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, and Hong Kong affairs are purely China's internal affairs, the spokesperson said.
"We strongly oppose any foreign country interfering in Hong Kong affairs through any means," he said, adding that it is futile for a handful of Hong Kong people collaborating with foreign forces to intervene in its affairs.

In March, China-backed bureaucrat Carrie Lam was elected as Hong Kong's first woman Chief Executive who quickly pledged to heal the "divisions" in the gleaming territory which has seen unprecedented demands for democracy and protests at the Communist giants growing influence.
Hong Kong merged with Chinese mainland in 1997 under the 'one country two systems' principle worked out between Britain and China. The principle grants certain degree of autonomy from Beijing to Hong Kong which is officially called the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.