China demands Trump to veto bill on Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy
DHARAMSALA, 21 Nov: China has demanded the US President to veto Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, a bill that supports human rights in Hong Kong or face ‘strong countermeasures’.
Demanding President Trump to veto the legislation that passed both the chambers of the US Congress with near-unanimous margins, the Chineses Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang has said that said the legislation undermines both China’s interests and those of the U.S. in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, reports the Los Angles Times.
“We urge the U.S. to grasp the situation, stop its wrongdoing before it’s too late, prevent this act from becoming law (and) immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs,” Geng said was quoted as saying in the report at a daily news briefing earlier today.
“If the U.S. continues to make the wrong moves, China will be taking strong countermeasures for sure,” he added.
The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act passed the House of Representatives by 417 to 1, on Wednesday, a day after the Senate unanimously passed the measure.
The bill now heads to the desk of the US President Donald Trump who will either sign it into law or veto it.
The bill mandates sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials who carry out human rights abuses and require an annual review of the favourable trade status that Washington grants Hong Kong.
The development came as hundreds of protesters are trapped inside a Hong Kong university in a tense standoff with riot police in Hong Kong that enters fifth-day today while mass pro-democracy protests have gripped the island since June earlier this year.
