Beijing Hopes US Will Refrain From Meddling In Hong Kong Crisis - Foreign Ministry

China hopes the United States will continue to respect Beijing's sovereignty and refrain from giving advice on its policy towards Hong Kong, which has been seized by mass civil unrest for weeks, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said on Thursday

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2019) China hopes the United States will continue to respect Beijing's sovereignty and refrain from giving advice on its policy towards Hong Kong, which has been seized by mass civil unrest for weeks, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump offered to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in person to discuss the Hong Kong crisis.

"Hong Kong affairs are entirely China's internal affairs. As we noted, President Trump also said previously that Hong Kong is a part of China. They'll have to deal with that themselves. They don't need advice.' We hope the US side will keep its word," Hua said at a daily news briefing.

On Tuesday, several Democratic lawmakers slammed Trump for his lukewarm response over the situation in Hong Kong. They called on the US president to press China to use its influence to halt the crackdown on protesters.

Mass protests erupted in China's semi-autonomous Hong Kong in early June in response to a controversial bill that would allow extraditions to the mainland. Although Beijing eventually announced that it had suspended the bill, people continue to protest, demanding that it be withdrawn completely.

Several countries have already expressed concerns and advised their citizens against traveling to Hong Kong amid the escalation of public unrest.