China lashes back over British remarks on Hong Kong protests

China’s foreign ministry has lashed back at remarks by Britain’s foreign secretary about the causes of recent anti-government protests in the former British colony of Hong Kong.

Spokesman Geng Shuang said Wednesday that Jeremy Hunt appeared to be “basking in the faded glory of British colonialism and obsessed with lecturing others.”

Hunt had said that Hong Kong authorities should not use an outbreak of vandalism in the legislative chambers by protesters Monday night as a “pretext for repression.” He said the authorities need to “understand the root causes of what happened, which is a deep-seated concern by people in Hong Kong that their basic freedoms are under attack.”

Geng said Britain restricted Hong Kong’s democracy prior to the 1997 handover to Chinese rule and had no right to comment.