China accuses the United Kingdom of interference due to Hong Kong

China has accused the UK of serious interference in its internal affairs following a British report criticizing the decline of freedoms in Hong Kong. The Chinese embassy in the UK dismissed the UK's statements as irresponsible and argued that the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration does not grant London any rights to oversee Hong Kong's affairs post-sovereignty transfer. Beijing emphasized that Hong Kong's legal framework is based on Chinese law and urged the UK to abandon its colonial mindset. The British report highlighted the expansion of national security legislation in Hong Kong and its impact on freedoms, including the recent 20-year prison sentence for Jimmy Lai, a British citizen and founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper. The UK continues to assert that China is violating the 1984 Joint Declaration, which promised a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong for 50 years after the handover.