Beijing summons US diplomat to lodge protest over Hong Kong rights bill

China's foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned a top US diplomat over the Senate's passing of a Hong Kong rights bill, warning of "strong" countermeasures against the United States should the legislation be signed into law.

Vice foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu called in acting charge d'affaires William Klein to lodge a "strong protest", the ministry said in a statement.

"We strongly urge the US side to immediately take effective measures to prevent this bill from becoming law" and stop meddling in China's internal affairs, the statement said.

"Otherwise, the Chinese side will take strong measures to resolutely counter it, and the US side must bear all the consequences," it said.