China rebuked Donald Trump for his Twitter-conveyed alarm over the amassment of troops near Hong Kong. The US should mind its own business and let China’s domestic affairs be, it said.

Zhang Hanhui, China’s freshly appointed ambassador in Moscow, reminded that Hong Kong is Chinese and not “American” or “English.” He thus cautioned foreign nations not to “stick their noses in our affairs,” TASS reports.

A similarly-worded call to Washington to not get involved in Hong Kong came on Wednesday from the Chines Foreign Ministry. Citing “intelligence,” US president Donald Trump earlier tweeted that Beijing was moving troops to the border with Hong Kong.

“Everyone should be calm and safe!” he wrote.

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That was hardly a secret, though, as Chinese media showed footage of the People's Armed Police moving towards the Shenzhen province bordering Hong Kong.

The force, which is subordinate to the Chinese military leadership, is preparing for an exercise there, the Global Times reported.

The People’s Armed Police have been assembling in Shenzhen, a city bordering Hong Kong, in advance of apparent large-scale exercises, videos obtained by the Global Times have shown. https://t.co/3KgaXeHw3Cpic.twitter.com/YXAORMay0W — Global Times (@globaltimesnews) August 12, 2019

Last week the civilian police conducted a drill in Shenzhen, which involved 12,000 officers, armored vehicles, helicopters and amphibious vehicles, the paper reported.

Hong Kong has been gripped by protests since late March. Initially focused on stopping a now-suspended bill that would allow extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China, the protest has since escalated into an anti-government movement. There have been a number of violent altercations between demonstrators and Hong Kong police.

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Beijing is highly suspicious of the Washington’s role in the events. A US diplomat was caught meeting one of the protest leaders, but Washington downplayed it saying keeping in contact with various people was perfectly normal. Chinese officials said some members of the protest are acting like thugs and bandits rather than legitimate activists.

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