Hong Kong residents sign their names on Friday in support of the Hong Kong national security law. A draft decision of the law was submitted to China's top legislature on Friday. Photo: cnsphoto

Chinese embassies in US, UK, and Australia strongly condemned the so-called joint statement on China's national security law for Hong Kong by four countries, stressing that Hong Kong affairs are purely China's internal affairs and the country brooks no foreign interference. 

Chinese analysts believe the joint statement exposes the foreign masterminds behind Hong Kong riots which have undermined China's "one country, two systems" and sabotaged China's national security.

"We will take necessary countermeasures in response to foreign meddling in Hong Kong affairs," said a statement published by the Chinese Embassy to the US.

Internal and external hostile forces are trying to use Hong Kong to split the country, subvert the government, carry out terrorist acts and interfere in the affairs of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Hong Kong has become a notable source of risk to China's national security. The central government, which shoulders the primary and ultimate responsibility for upholding national security, cannot just sit by and do nothing, the embassy said.

The National People's Congress' (NPC) decision to enact the Hong Kong SAR national security legislation, targets a very narrow category of acts that seriously jeopardize China's national security. It will have no impact on Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents or the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors in Hong Kong. It will provide a fundamental guarantee for the effective implementation of "one country, two systems," the embassy said.

The embassy's remarks were in response to a joint statement by the US, UK, Australia and Canada criticizing China over the national security legislation for Hong Kong. 

Deputies to the 13th NPC on Thursday voted to approve the NPC Decision on Establishing and Improving the Legal System and Enforcement Mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to Safeguard National Security. 

The four countries' joint statement claimed the national security law would "curtail the Hong Kong people's liberties, dramatically erode Hong Kong's autonomy and the system that made it so prosperous," and believed it would undermine the "one country, two systems."

The joint statement also claimed the national security law would breach the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the former colony and threaten its freedoms.

Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at Friday's media briefing that China has lodged solemn representations to certain nations. These nations have no qualification or legal basis to cite the Sino-British Joint Declaration to make irresponsible remarks on Hong Kong, Zhao said.

The Chinese embassy to the UK said in a statement that the ultimate purpose and core content is to affirm China's recovering of Hong Kong. There is not a single word or provision in the joint declaration that gives the UK any responsibility over Hong Kong following its return in 1997. No country has a right to interfere in the affairs of Hong Kong which are China's internal affairs under the pretext of the joint declaration.

As for the claim that the law "does nothing to build mutual understanding and foster reconciliation within Hong Kong," the Chinese embassy in Australia said that the decision to enact such legislation has won strong support from all Chinese people including Hong Kong compatriots.  

Australia has no qualification to question or criticize China's national security legislation for Hong Kong as it has enacted a number of national security laws, the embassy said. 

Shen Yi, a professor at Shanghai's Fudan University, told the Global Times on Friday that the joint statement by four of the Five Eyes nations exposes the evil foreign manipulators behind the riots in Hong Kong that began last June. They are the masterminds who provoked and undermined China's "one country, two systems" and attempted to sabotage China's national security, said Shen. 

These countries have been sending intelligence personnel to Hong Kong to collect information and incite some locals into committing illegal acts and endangering China's national security, Shen said. 

Australia and Canada are Commonwealth countries that closely linked to the UK in history, culture and international affairs, Li Haidong, an expert from China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing told the Global Times, he said Australia and Canada don't have an independent diplomatic and security plan, and blindly follow the UK and US. 

Analysts believe the two former British colonies are still acting like subservient colonies, and doing nothing good to themselves. 

Canada has also triggered strong criticism from the Chinese public over the possible extradition of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou to the US and will face stronger backlash from China, experts warned. 

Disgruntled Chinese netizens, who called Canada a "lapdog" of the US, have been calling on others to support Huawei products, curtail economic cooperation with Canada and impose sanctions on key Canadian companies in China.

Australia, which has spearheaded the anti-China campaign for quite a long time, is already in a passive position in economic and trade cooperation with China after it called to investigate China on the virus origin, analysts said.

Australian beef and wine, tourism and studies are all replaceable, and Chinese consumers can turn to alternatives, Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University, told the Global Times previously.