US bill to halt sales of riot gear to HK blasted

China slammed some United States lawmakers for displaying a double standard on Wednesday over a bill they introduced to stop sales of nonlethal crowd control equipment to Hong Kong, urging them to stop indulging violence and crime.

"It is exactly because of some US politicians' indulgence and support that anti-China people and chaos creators in Hong Kong act so unscrupulously and brazenly," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said of the bill.

The legislation was announced on Tuesday and is sponsored by three US lawmakers, the South China Morning Post reported. If passed, the bill would prohibit US companies from exporting nonlethal crowd control items like tear gas, as well as defense articles and services, to Hong Kong, it reported.