SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of three advocacy groups in San Francisco Bay Area Wednesday protested U.S. interference in the internal affairs of China's Hong Kong and presented a "letter of opposition to H.R.3289" to the office of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi here.

"The prolonged rioting of four months has made life dangerous, intolerable and uncertain for residents of and visitors to Hong Kong," according to the protest letter.

It accused some U.S. lawmakers of instigating dissension and indirectly encouraging illegal protests and violence (in Hong Kong), instead of urging calm and peace.

"We urge the lawmakers to pay attention to our own domestic problems such as homelessness, inadequate health care, climate change, housing crisis in metropolitan cities, and rising poverty level," said the protest letter.

John Walsh, a representative of East Bay Chapter 162 of Veterans for Peace (VFP), a global organization advocating world peace, said the Hong Kong-related bill, or H.R.3289, which was passed in the lower chamber of Congress on Tuesday, "definitely did not reflect the opinions of the general public of the United States."

He said he supported the other two groups, Chinese-Americans for Peace, a local grassroots organization, and Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), the largest and oldest organization in San Francisco's Chinatown, in presenting the protest letter to the office of Pelosi, who represents San Francisco in the U.S. Congress.

The United States has been interfering in the internal affairs of Hong Kong through organizations funded by the U.S. government, such as the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy, he said.

"What kind of an attitude is that? That's very hypocritical. Non-interventionism, not intervening in the affairs of another country should be a U.S. policy," Walsh stressed.

Chu Wen Huang, presiding chairman of the CCBA in San Francisco, told Xinhua that the bill was not based on facts and that the U.S. government has turned a blind eye to the rioters in Hong Kong who attacked Hong Kong police officers and destroyed public facilities.

The bill was not aimed at helping the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (HKSAR) government resolve problems, but rather intends to sanction Hong Kong, he said.

"We must not allow foreign forces to meddle in the affairs of Hong Kong and strongly demanded the U.S. Congress withdraw the bill," Huang said.

Leon Chow, vice president of the Committee to Promote the Reunification Of China San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, who was one of the representatives delivering the protest letter, described the escalating violence committed by some rioters in Hong Kong as something smacking of terrorism.

"The U.S. legislators should not have passed a Hong Kong-related bill without solid information about the true reality in the city," Chow said.

On Wednesday, the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, strongly condemned the U.S. House of Representatives' passing of the Hong Kong-related bill.

The move constituted "blatant interference in Hong Kong affairs and gross intervention in China's internal affairs," the NPC Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement. Enditem

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