U.S. Chided for Internet Remarks on Hong Kong

U.S. comments expressing support for electoral reform in Hong Kong are unacceptable, a Chinese government official said Saturday after the territory accused Washington of meddling in China’s internal affairs.

A statement on the U.S. State Department’s website said Washington “strongly supports” the Hong Kong people’s desire for democracy, electoral reform and universal suffrage as Beijing began a review of the former British colony’s mini-constitution.

China began closed-door deliberations on revisions to Hong Kong’s Basic Law that critics fear will hand Beijing full control over whether and when Hong Kong voters may elect their leaders. Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

A Hong Kong government spokesman said Saturday that its constitutional development was “part of the internal affairs of our country.... The U.S. government should respect this position and should not interfere.”

Late Saturday, China’s official New China News Agency quoted a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman in Hong Kong as saying the U.S. comments were “unacceptable.”

The news agency quoted the spokesman as saying that, since Hong Kong’s return to mainland rule, Beijing had fully implemented its pledge to ensure that the territory retained a high degree of autonomy:

“Hong Kong residents have been ensured various basic rights and freedom entrusted by the law. The Hong Kong ... government has been governing Hong Kong according to the Basic Law and implementing all the commitments to the international society.”

Critics say Beijing’s review will stymie Hong Kong’s democracy movement before legislative elections there in September, ensuring a more compliant legislature. They argue that the move erodes the high degree of autonomy the territory was promised in 1997.

Top officials of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, joined by a few Hong Kong delegates, split into small groups Saturday to discuss reinterpretations of two clauses in the Basic Law that set out how its chief executive and lawmakers would be chosen.

The statement by the U.S., posted Friday, came after veteran Hong Kong democracy advocate and lawmaker Martin Lee paid a controversial visit to Washington in March to argue that Hong Kong should have direct elections for its leaders and legislature by 2007. Pro-Beijing figures branded him a “traitor” for the visit.