Beijing on Tuesday voiced “strong dissatisfaction” with a joint statement from the G7 leaders which backed Hong Kong’s autonomy and called for calm after months of civil unrest.

“We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the statement made by the leaders of the G7 Summit on Hong Kong affairs,” said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a press briefing in Beijing.

“We have repeatedly stressed that Hong Kong’s affairs are purely China’s internal affairs and that no foreign government, organization or individual has the right to intervene.”

In the G7 statement, the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States called for calm in the tense city.

“The G7 reaffirms the existence and the importance of the 1984 Sino-British agreement on Hong Kong and calls for avoiding violence,” it said.

China has previously accused former colonial power Britain of interfering in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, which the British handed over to China in 1997.

Source: AFP