Beijing Protests EU's Statements On Hong Kong Extradition Bill

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published June 13, 2019 | 08:26 PM

Beijing has expressed its discontent with the European Union over its statements regarding controversial amendments to the extradition law in Hong Kong, which sparked mass protests across the semi-autonomous territory earlier in the week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Thursday

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th June, 2019) Beijing has expressed its discontent with the European Union over its statements regarding controversial amendments to the extradition law in Hong Kong, which sparked mass protests across the semi-autonomous territory earlier in the week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Thursday.

Over one million people took to the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday to protest against the new amendments to the government's extradition law, which, if passed, would allow fugitives to be transferred to jurisdictions Hong Kong has no respective agreements with, including mainland China. The demonstrations are still ongoing.

On Tuesday, the European Union said in a statement that Brussels shared "many of the concerns raised by citizens of Hong Kong" regarding the proposed extradition reforms, and that this was a sensitive issue "with potentially far-reaching consequences" for the people in Hong Kong and EU citizens.

"The Chinese side expresses its strong discontent and resolute protest against the irresponsible EU statements on amendments to the extradition law ... We hope that the European Union will treat the legal process of making amendments objectively and stop interfering in the internal affairs of Hong Kong in any form," Geng said at a briefing.

According to the spokesman, the events in Hong Kong are related to China's internal politics, with which no one has the right to interfere.

Tens of thousands of people continued to protest in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Opponents to the amendments see them not only as an attack on Hong Kong's autonomy but also a potential tool Beijing could use to crack down on dissent in Hong Kong.