China has accused US officials of trying to “disturb” Hong Kong through meddling in the city-state's affairs - a move that Beijing says would provoke its “bad reaction.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Friday that “certain people on the US side have always wanted to disturb Hong Kong." 

US officials, he charged, were trying to "disturb its socio-economic development, disturb the normal order of its residents' lives, and even use the Hong Kong issue to interfere in China's internal affairs." 

“This can only be futile,” he warned. “The only effect it will have is to cause Chinese people to go on alert and have a bad reaction."

The warning came after the US Department of State released a report on Wednesday, saying Hong Kong’s autonomy was “being eroded under expanded influence and interference from Beijing.”

Lu asserted that Hong Kong was a part of China and no other country had a right to interfere in its internal affairs.

Hong Kong that was a British colony was handed over to China back in 1997. 

Source ; MENA