Embassy: 'Five Eyes' should stop playing HK card

The Five Eyes intelligence alliance, including the United States, should "shed their illusion" of using Hong Kong to contain China's development and prosperity and turn their eyes to their own governance issues that urgently need addressing, the Chinese embassy in the US said on Friday.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the intelligence-sharing group－the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand－asked China to reinstate the four Legislative Council members of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) who were disqualified by a decision adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

"Their statement has openly breached international law and basic norms governing international relations and grossly interfered in Hong Kong affairs and China's internal affairs," a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said on Saturday.

"The Chinese side is strongly concerned about and firmly opposed to it," the spokesperson said in a statement.

The NPC Standing Committee's decision on this matter, made in accordance with China's Constitution, Hong Kong SAR's Basic Law and national security law, is a necessary move to uphold and safeguard the principle of "one country, two systems" as well as rule of law and the constitutional order of Hong Kong SAR, noted the embassy statement.

It is fully legitimate, justified and in strict keeping with the Constitution and other laws, the statement said.

"People in public office must uphold their country's constitutional laws and honor the pledge of allegiance to their country," the spokesperson said. "This is something plain and simple. No place in the world, not the United States, will turn a blind eye if they violate such allegiance and betray their country. It is the same for Hong Kong as part of China."

Meanwhile, since Hong Kong's return to China, the legal basis of the Chinese government's administration of the Hong Kong SAR has been China's Constitution and the Basic Law, not the Sino-British Joint Declaration, noted the spokesperson.

The Joint Declaration has never conferred any power on the United Kingdom or any other country to assume any responsibility over Hong Kong after its return. There is no legal basis or position for the Five Eyes Alliance to point fingers about Hong Kong affairs, said the statement.

"If one's heart is blind, you do not expect his/her eyes to be bright," the statement said.

It added that the Five Eyes Alliance countries, including the United States, should reflect on the racial superiority complex deep in their hearts, give up their pride and prejudice inherited from Hong Kong's colonial rule and shed their illusion of using Hong Kong to contain China's development and prosperity.

"We urge them to drop their hypocrisy and double standards, stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China's internal affairs, and turn their eyes to their own governance issues that urgently need addressing," said the embassy spokesperson. "In today's world, no attempt to pressurize China or damage China's sovereignty, security and development interests will ever prevail."