Ministry: China will not make sovereignty a trade issue

China firmly opposes any country's attempt to use Hong Kong's prosperity and stability — as well as the well-being of over 7 million Hong Kong people — as a bargaining chip, a mainland official said on Tuesday.

The remark came after United States Vice President Mike Pence commented on Hong Kong affairs when addressing the Detroit Economic Club on Monday, threatening that it would be harder for Washington to make a trade deal with Beijing if there was violence in the region.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region warned against the wishful thinking that China would trade on its own territorial sovereignty and national unity.

The spokesperson said in a statement some US politicians have stuck to a Cold War mentality and its attendant hegemonic and zero-sum thinking. They are confusing right and wrong, making irresponsible remarks and violently interfering in China's internal affairs.

China is strongly dissatisfied with and resolutely opposes such remarks, the spokesperson said, urging relevant countries and politicians to stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China's domestic affairs.