US bill calls for monitoring of Hong Kong's 'democracy and freedom'
Bipartisan move describes liberty in the city as 'under threat'; Beijing says it's 'internal affairs'
US legislators tabled a bipartisan bill to Congress on Thursday to monitor "democracy and freedom" in Hong Kong.
The bill described the city's liberty as "under threat" from Beijing following its tight restrictions imposed for the 2017 chief executive election.
On Wednesday in Beijing, US President Barack Obama said "unequivocally" that the US was not involved in fostering the protest movement. The bill could fuel tensions between China and the US just after Obama and President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit this week.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a written reply yesterday that "Hong Kong affairs are purely China's internal affairs. We are resolutely opposed to any external forces using any method to interfere."
The US Congressional-Executive Commission on China - which counts heavyweights like House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Republican senator Marco Rubio among its number - announced the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and argued that Washington must back calls for genuine universal suffrage in the city.
The legislation would update the US-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 to "reinstate and strengthen" annual reporting functions. The last report on the city was made by the State Department to Congress in March 2000.
"Hong Kong's autonomy and freedoms - essential to its relations with the US - are under threat from China," said Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat and co-chairman of the commission.