US consul general correct he won’t ‘recognise Hong Kong’ in the future, People’s Daily says in blasting criticism of electoral overhaul

A Beijing mouthpiece has accused the United States’ consul general in Hong Kong of “upending black and white” in the wake of his criticisms of last week’s radical electoral system overhaul, but agreed on one point – the city will eventually not be one he recognises.

The article, “Smith and his like should wake up from their old dream of calling wind and summoning rain in Hong Kong”, was published in the People’s Daily on Sunday, and carried across other portals including the website of state news agency Xinhua. “Calling wind and summoning rain” is a Chinese saying referring to people who are influential.

It came a day after Beijing’s foreign ministry accused Hanscom Smith – without naming him – of “blatantly ­supporting anti-China troublemakers” and penning an article that had “twisted right and wrong”.

In separate comments, he added that Beijing’s latest plan, which involves slashing the number of directly elected seats to the Legislative Council, would not produce “meaningful democratic results” nor result in a credible representation of “the will of the people in Hong Kong”.

But the Chinese mouthpiece hit back on Sunday. “Smith got part of it right – that Hong Kong, in the future, is not going to be the one he recognises,” the article reads.

It also lashed out at Western politicians, saying the city was no longer “a colony for anyone to invade” and a special administrative region of China, “not the 51st state of America”.