Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Friday announced it had shut down its Hong Kong office, citing concerns about staff safety, following the implementation of the homegrown national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law.

In a statement, RFA said it no longer had full-time staff in Hong Kong and had ceased operations of its physical office.

In response to media enquiries, the SAR government declined to comment on the operational decisions of individual organisations.

However, a spokesperson said the government expressed strong disapproval of and condemned any scaremongering or smearing remarks made about the new national security legislation.

The spokesperson said it is an outrageous and biased statement to suggest that journalists would only face concerns while working in Hong Kong, even though other countries have similar national security offences and laws.

The spokesperson reiterated the new law specifically targets a small number of people who pose a threat to national security, adding that ordinary journalists would not engage in activities endangering national security, and therefore violate the law.

Last month, Secretary for Security Chris Tang criticised the US news outlet for smearing Article 23 when it reported that certain new offences would target the media.