Jeremy Hunt, a leadership candidate for Britain's Conservative Party, gestures as he speaks during a hustings event in Belfast, Northern Ireland, July 2, 2019. Peter Morrison/Pool via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday that he had not backed violent protests in Hong Kong after Chinese state media blamed interference by Western governments for unrest in the former British colony.

“Let me clear what I said. I said that I condemned, and we as the United Kingdom, condemn all violence and that people who supported the pro-democracy demonstrators would have been very dismayed by the scenes they saw,” Hunt told BBC radio.

Hunt said authorities had to deal with the root causes of the protests over a now-suspended extradition law in Hong Kong. He also said there was no reason why good relations between Britain and China could not continue.