China criticized the United States on Wednesday for commenting on a pro-democracy march in Hong Kong with the Foreign Ministry saying it was strictly against any country intervening in its affairs.
"The development of Hong Kong's political system is China's internal affair," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a daily press briefing.
"The Chinese government resolutely opposes any intervention by other countries and expects the relevant country to stop making irresponsible comments on Hong Kong's internal affairs."
China has said it will allow Hong Kong inhabitants to vote for a new leader by 2017, but it will continue to hand-pick the candidates -- riling protesters campaigning for political reform who marched in their thousands through the territory Tuesday.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said that while she was aware that the election process for the chief executive "are still being worked out," the U.S. believes "that the legitimacy of this person will be enhanced if universal suffrage is fulfilled and if the election provides a genuine choice of candidates that are representative of the voters’ will."
Hong underlined Wednesday that the basic rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong "were" under guarantee.
He stated that for the 2017 elections, Hong Kong should obey basic law along with the rules of the National People's Congress' Permanent Committee, adding that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China carried out its practices according to these laws.
On Tuesday, tens of thousands of people staged a pro-democracy march on the 17th anniversary of the city being handed over from Britain to China.
Following the march, 511 people were detained -- most of them students -- after police moved in to break up a sit-in in the city's central financial district.
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