Firmly oppose US House of Representatives' insistence on passing Hong Kong Democracy Act: China

After the US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning interference in Hong Kong, China hit back saying that Washington should "stop meddling".

"We express our strong indignation and firm opposition to the US House of Representatives' insistence on passing the so-called 'Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act', foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday.

The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act will be moved to the Senate after it was passed by the House of Representatives. 

"Today we're simply urging the Chinese president and the Hong Kong Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, to faithfully honour the government's promises" that Hong Kong's rights and autonomy would be protected," Republican Representative Chris Smith, sponsor of the bill, said on the US House floor.

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Hong Kong has seen widespread violence for the past four months which started as an opposition to the extradition bill which was later withdrawn by authorities, however, there has been no letup in clashes between Hong Kong police and street protesters.

US House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: "For years, the people of Hong Kong have faced a barrage of unjust and harsh restrictions on their freedoms, and those who have stood up for their rights have been met with a cruel crackdown."

"In Congress, Democrats and Republicans in the House and in the Senate stand united with the people of Hong Kong," Pelosi said, adding,"If America does not speak up for human rights in China because of commercial interests then we lose all moral authority to speak out for human rights in any place in the world."

The US House also approved a related bill to prohibit the export of certain non-lethal crowd control items such as tear gas to Hong Kong.