Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson refuted US President Donald Trump's response to the Chinese central government's proposed national security law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, mentioning the word "unswervingly" three times to show China's determination to safeguard national sovereignty and interests. 

 Reuters reported Trump warned that Washington would react "very strongly" against any attempt to gain more control over Hong Kong. The report said the US State Department also warned China, saying a high-degree of autonomy and respect for human rights were keys to preserving "the territory's special status in US law," which has helped it maintain its position as a world financial center. 

In response to the Trump administration's reaction, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Friday's routine press conference that the Chinese government will safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests unswervingly, implement the principle of "one country, two systems" unswervingly and oppose any outside interference in Hong Kong affairs unswervingly. 

National security is the basic premise for the survival and development of a country. No country in the world allows secessionist or other activities that endanger its national security to be carried out on its territory, Zhao said. 

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. The issue of national security legislation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is purely China's internal affairs, and no foreign country has the right to interfere, Zhao noted. 

A draft decision on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the HKSAR to safeguard national security was submitted to the third session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) for deliberation on Friday.

Zhao also responded to the Trump administration's report of the US Strategic Approach to China consistent with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, in which the report said more than 40 years later, it has become evident that since the US and China established diplomatic relations in 1979, US policy toward China was largely premised on a hope that deepening engagement would spur fundamental economic and political opening in China and lead to its emergence as a constructive and responsible global stakeholder with a more open society. 

More than 40 years later, it has become evident that this approach underestimated the will of the Chinese Communist Party to constrain the scope of economic and political reform in China. To respond to Beijing's challenge, the administration has adopted a competitive approach to China, the report said. 

Zhao said over the past 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese people, under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, have embarked on a development path suited to China's national conditions, made great achievements that have attracted worldwide attention, and contributed to world peace, stability and development.

History and reality show that the path of development chosen by the Chinese people is completely correct and we have high confidence in it. "We will continue to forge ahead on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and continue to score new and greater victories. No one can stop China from growing stronger," Zhao said. 

The history of diplomatic ties between China and the US over the past 40 years more fully demonstrates that cooperation is the only right choice for both sides.

For the two major countries with different national conditions, mutual respect, treating each other as equals and seeking common ground while shelving differences are the way to get along. The US also said in the report that it does not seek to control China's development. We urge the US to match its words with deeds and earnestly respect China's core interests and major concerns, rather than saying one thing and doing another, Zhao added. 

China's policy toward the US is consistent and clear. China-US relations are now at an important juncture. A stable and growing China-US relationship serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples, and is what the international community is looking forward to, he said. 

"We urge the US side to abandon its Cold War mentality and ideological bias, follow the trend of the times, and work with China to bring bilateral relations back to the track of normal development," Zhao stressed.