UK "interference" in Hong Kong "poisoned" relations

Britain's "interference" in Hong Kong has "seriously poisoned" relations between London and Beijing, China's ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, said Thursday.

He said Britain's attitude to Hong Kong, and its allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, amounted to interference in China's internal affairs.

''China has never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, including the UK, and we ask the same from other countries,'' Liu said in an online news conference.

China's imposition of a tough new national security law in Hong Kong led the UK to offer at least three million Hong Kong citizens the right to settle in the UK and eventually apply for citizenship.

Liu condemned the move saying it undermined the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong.'

And he dismissed the allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang as "slander".