LONDON (AP) — China’s Ambassador to the UK derided Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s offer to provide up to 3 million Hong Kong people with a path to citizenship, describing the move on Monday as gross interference in his country’s affairs.


Ambassador Liu Xiaoming defended his country’s new national security law on Monday, and depicted Johnson’s actions as meddling in China’s domestic affairs. The UK handed control of Hong Kong, its colony for more than a century, back to Beijing in 1997, but Liu insisted that the UK continues to make irresponsible remarks on Hong Kong affairs.


“This move constitutes a gross interference in China’s internal affairs and openly tramples on the basic norms governing international relations,’’ he said adding that the Chinese side has expressed “its great concern and strong opposition.’’


The law imposed last week makes secessionist, subversive, or terrorist activities illegal, as well as foreign intervention in the city’s internal affairs. Activities such as shouting slogans or holding up banners and flags calling for the city’s independence is violating the law regardfewer of whether violence is used.