Five eyes or ten eyes, they should be careful not to get their eyes poked out: China on Hong Kong row

Amid opposition by five major countries, China's foreign ministry said: "no matter whether they have five eyes or ten eyes, as long as they dare to harm China's sovereignty, security or development interests, they should be careful not to get their eyes poked out."

Watch:

The Five Eyes: United States, Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand had accused China of violating international commitments by ousting pro-democracy lawmakers from Hong Kong's legislature.

"We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to all relevant countries' flagrant violations of international law and basic norms of international relations, and for making irresponsible remarks on Hong Kong's affairs that are China's internal affairs," Zhao Lijian, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said.

However, the Five Eyes had declared that China was in "clear breach of its international obligations under the legally binding, UN-registered Sino-British Joint Declaration."

"For the sake of Hong Kong's stability and prosperity, it is essential that China and the Hong Kong authorities respect the channels for the people of Hong Kong to express their legitimate concerns and opinions," the Five Eyes alliance said in a statement.

China had promised to rule Hong Kong under the "One Country, Two Systems" model, however, after last year's anti-government demonstrations and the imposition of national security law in June, Hong Kong citizens were placed under new stricter restrictions directly controlled by Beijing.

China's parliament body last week had issued a decree that local authorities could expel any politician who was being seen a national security threat without getting court orders.

There were also reports of arrests of lawmakers after the decree came into effect as police began prosecutions against opposition leaders for protests in the chamber.