China asks British MPs not to badger it over Hong Kong

BEIJING: China today asked UK lawmakers to stop badgering it over the refusal in granting visas to some of them to visit Hong Kong, in the backdrop of ongoing pro-democracy protests in the former British colony.

"Hong Kong affairs are purely China's internal affairs. China firmly opposes the interference of any country, institution or individual in any form in Hong Kong affairs," Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing.

He was reacting to reports from London stating that senior lawmakers consider China's refusal to allow them to visit Hong Kong last month as an insult to Britain and called on the government to react more strongly, including formally summoning China's ambassador over the issue.

"I would like to reiterate that the Chinese central government and the government of Hong Kong Special Administration Region have full right to deal with relevant issues in accordance with the law," said Hong.

"We hope certain British lawmakers will stop their meaningless hype," Hong said.

A number of British MPs wanted to visit Hong Kong to show solidarity with the thousands of pro-democracy protesters who have occupied key streets in the city for over 75 days, demanding the repeal of a rule brought in by China to screen candidates to contest for the Chief Executive Post in 2017 elections.

China had declined to grant visas to them to visit the former British colony.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong police today forcibly took away protesters from the camp site and tore their tents in a final push to clear the key streets occupied by the pro-democracy activists for over two and a half months now.