China today said it supported the decision of Hong Kong’s  Chief Executive Carrie Lam to suspend an unpopular bill that would allow extraditions to China and which sparked a week of protests.

In a statement Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang called the decision an attempt to listen more widely to the views of the community and restore calm to the community as soon as possible.

Opposition to the Beijing-backed bill united an unusually wide cross-section of Hong Kong. Critics feared the proposed law would subject people to China’s notoriously opaque and politicized courts and it was seen as the latest move by Beijing to weaken freedoms promised to the former British colony when it was handed back over to China in 1997.

A separate statement by the Chinese Central Government agency that handles Hong Kong-related affairs said the extradition bill was necessary and justified to plug what it called loopholes in current laws. It said China continues to support the extradition bill and pays close attention to public opposition to the legislation.