UK urged to refrain from false accusations

China urged the United Kingdom on Monday to refrain from taking further steps along a wrong path so as to avoid further damage to bilateral ties.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, in his first media briefing, made the remark after reports emerged that London is ready to suspend an extradition treaty for Hong Kong following the enactment of the National Security Law for the region. The reports came after Canada and Australia made the same moves earlier this month.

China will take firm counteractions against practices that interfere in its internal affairs, Wang said, adding that Beijing opposes and condemns the UK's wrong remarks and measures on Hong Kong-related issues.

China also hit back on Monday at comments by British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who accused Beijing of human rights abuses against the Uygur ethnic group in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and said that sanctions against those responsible could not be ruled out.

Wang called Raab's comments "rumors and slander" and the forced-sterilization reports "complete nonsense".

He reiterated that Xinjiang-related issues are not about human rights, religion or ethnic groups at all, but about combating violence, terrorism and separatism.

Tension between Beijing and London has soared over a number of topics such as Hong Kong affairs and the ban on Chinese telecom giant Huawei's participation in the UK's 5G network. It also comes at a time when China is locked in conflicts with the United States.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said recently that the US is in an era of great power competition, and that China is Washington's top strategic competitor, followed by Russia.

In response to Esper's remarks, Wang said the key reason for the severe challenges facing Sino-US ties is that some people in the US always view the relationship with China with a Cold War mentality and zero-sum game mindset, and they advocate containment and suppression of China.

China will never go down the path of a powerful state turning to hegemony, he said, urging the US to view China and their bilateral relations correctly.