Russia slams US, Britain for Hong Kong discussion in UNSC

MOSCOW -- The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday blasted the United States and Britain for organizing a discussion on the situation in Hong Kong in the United Nations Security Council on May 29.

"We consider the situation in Hong Kong an internal affair of China and urge external forces to abstain from interfering in relations between the central government and the special administrative region of that country," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a news briefing.

"Such actions undermine the sovereignty of the PRC (the People's Republic of China) and they represent a gross violation of the fundamental standards of international law fixed in the UN Charter, and we believe they result from nothing else but the desire to settle accounts with a foreign political adversary," she added.

The attempts to fill the agenda of the UNSC with issues which are outside the framework of its mandate are counterproductive and may lead to a reduction of the efficiency and a weakening of the authority of this organ, which is the most important for the modern system of international relations, Zakharova said.

On May 28, the third session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) of China adopted the "Decision on Establishing and Improving the Legal System and Enforcement Mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to Safeguard National Security."

The United States and the United Kingdom, for their own political purposes, have been making unwarranted comments, interfering and obstructing, and attempted to push for an open video conference in the UN Security Council.

China expressed strong opposition, and the vast majority of the Council members did not support the US proposal, believing that the Hong Kong-related issues were China's internal affairs and had nothing to do with the mandates of the Security Council. The Security Council rejected the unreasonable request of the US, and its attempt failed.

In face of strong opposition from China and Security Council members, the US and the UK could only mention Hong Kong under "any other business" in the informal consultations of the Council.

This move was strongly countered by China and generally opposed by Council members. They urged the US and the UK to stop interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and making groundless accusations against China.

There was no consensus, no formal discussion in the Security Council, and the US and the UK's move came to nothing.