Beijing liaison office slams US-funded report ‘filled with lies’ about national security law, Hong Kong protest movement
- Liaison office continues to assert its authority with second blistering statement on Hong Kong affairs in two days
- Establishment heavyweight Tam Yiu-chung, meanwhile, urges government to table controversial security law for consultation at Legco in September
Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong continued its barrage of criticism over the city’s affairs, slamming “anti-China” politicians and foreign forces on Sunday for opposing national security legislation and glorifying the criminal acts of the city’s radical protesters.
On Sunday, the office targeted the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), a US Congress-funded, American pro-democracy group, for an April 23 report that accused Beijing of falsely blaming last year’s social unrest on “malevolent foreign forces” and urged the central government to “refrain from any further moves that undermine Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy”.
A spokesperson for the office said the NDI’s 36-page report was “filled with lies, applied double standards, and distorted the truth of the unrest” triggered by the government’s now-withdrawn extradition bill.
“[The report] glorified the series of inhuman, terrifying, criminal acts of extremists who ignored the rule of law as a fight over democratisation,” the statement continued. “The untrue remarks of these politicians is a violation of international law and the basic norms of international relations. This is another example of gross interference in the affairs of Hong Kong and China by external forces.”