The Hong Kong government on Saturday said it firmly rejects what it calls vilification and scaremongering by the US consulate in the SAR, accusing the mission of a lack of integrity.

The administration made the remarks in a statement after the US consulate said it would continue to express “deep concern” about the situation in the SAR.

“The HKSAR government firmly rejects any false accusation, vilification or smearing in respect of the HKSAR affairs by the US government and its consulate general in Hong Kong,” a government spokesman said.

“The US' insistence on scaremongering, in the belief that repeating prejudice-driven self-created misrepresentation numerous times will turn it into a truth, simply reflects its lack of integrity as well as its ill intent.”

The spokesman urged the US to stop acting against international law and the basic norms of international relations.

“Any attempt by foreign countries or external forces to undermine the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong by slandering the situation in the HKSAR will only expose their own weakness and faulty arguments and be doomed to fail.”

Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office in Hong Kong said its commissioner, Liu Guangyuan, had met US Consul Gregory May recently to express concern over remarks May made about rule of law, academic freedom and the media landscape here.

A spokesman said Liu “drew three red lines for US consul general and US consulate general in Hong Kong, which is not to endanger China’s national security, not to engage in political infiltration in Hong Kong, and not to slander or damage Hong Kong’s development prospect”.