In Beijing, the Foreign Ministry urged the United Kingdom to stop interfering in China's internal affairs and to refrain from making random, inflammatory accusations regarding Hong Kong.

The refutation came after the British Foreign Office said that new Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab spoke by telephone on Friday with Lam about the situation in Hong Kong.

"I'd like to point out that Hong Kong today is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. Long gone are the days when it was under British colonial rule," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Saturday.