China to Britain: Keep your 'colonial' hands off Hong Kong

Reuters - 

China

 told Britain to keep its hands off 

Hong

 

Kong

 on Wednesday (July 3) while London called for Beijing to honour the agreements made when the city was handed over in 1997, escalating a diplomatic spat over the former British colony. Beijing denounced British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt as "shameless" and said it had made a diplomatic complaint to London after he on Tuesday (July 2) warned of consequences if 

China

 neglected its commitments to guarantee basic freedoms.

China

's ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, told reporters in London that some regard 

Hong

 

Kong

 as "still under British rule" and criticised the British government for interfering in Chinese matters. The growing war of words between 

China

 and Britain follows mass protests in 

Hong

 

Kong

 against a now-suspended bill that would allow extradition to mainland 

China.

Hundreds of protesters in the former British colony besieged and broke into the legislature on Monday (July 1) after a demonstration marking the anniversary of return to Chinese rule.

China

 called the violence an "undisguised challenge" to the "one country, two systems" model under which 

Hong

 

Kong

 has been ruled for 22 years. On Wednesday, Hunt said on Twitter good relations between the two countries were based on honouring agreements, a reference to the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration which saw the return of 

Hong

 

Kong

 to 

China

 in exchange for half a century of freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including the right to protest.