Beijing hits out at EU parliament over resolution to strip Hong Kong of trade status

The Chinese foreign ministry’s arm in Hong Kong has hit out at a European Parliament resolution calling for the city’s special trading status to be revoked and sanctions against government officials, urging the body to stop interfering in the country’s internal affairs.

The Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong issued the rebuttal on Friday, a day after a sizeable majority of lawmakers in the parliament voted to adopt a non-binding resolution calling for the European Union to revoke Hong Kong’s special trading status.

“The European Parliament’s actions grossly interfered in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs, blatantly trampled on the spirit of the rule of law, and staged a clumsy political farce, which is completely unacceptable,” a spokesman for the office wrote on social media.

Thursday’s plenary in Strasbourg saw 473 lawmakers vote in favour of the resolution, with only 23 voting against it. There were 98 abstentions.

The resolution also asked the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, to review the status of Hong Kong’s economic and trade office in Brussels.

The move was prompted by the recent conclusion of Hong Kong’s largest national security trial, which saw judges hand down jail sentences ranging between four and 10 years to 45 opposition activists for holding a “primary” election in 2020 to attempt to take control of the Legislative Council and bring the government to a standstill by vetoing budgets.