Accessibility links

Breaking News

Iran Comes Out Defending China Against US Actions On Hong Kong


Riot police march in Wan Chai district, a touristic area where foreigners gather in bars, in Hong Kong on October 4, 2019
Riot police march in Wan Chai district, a touristic area where foreigners gather in bars, in Hong Kong on October 4, 2019

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, denounced a bill recently passed by U.S. House and Senate committees about unrest in Hong Kong as "brazen meddling" in the internal affairs of other countries.

"The right to protest is a right of citizens that could be exercised without any foreign interference and within the framework of law and public order," Mousavi said in a statement on Monday.

The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, if finally adopted by both chambers would require the U.S. President to annually certify whether Hong Kong is sufficiently autonomous to justify being treated differently from China on issues like trade.

The bill would pressure China and the Hong Kong governments to uphold the city's autonomy, or risk damaging Hong Kong's economic future with the loss of its special status before American law.

The law would also let the U.S. sanction government officials who undermine Hong Kong's autonomy.

China's Foreign Ministry has already sent a note of protest to the U.S. following approval of the congressional bill, urging the American legislators to drop it immediately.

Iran itself has been accused by multiple human rights organizations and UN rapporteurs of grossly violating human rights, especially in arresting and imprisoning protesters.

Tehran had earlier also supported China's position on Hong Kong protests while denouncing London’s and Washington's stance on the case as "meddling in other countries' internal affairs."

In a statement on Friday, July 13, the Islamic Republic Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed Tehran's full support for One-China Principle and condemned the what it described as "nonconstructive intervention"" of the United States and Britain in China's internal affairs and their "provocative actions" in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

XS
SM
MD
LG