Justice Chief Condemns Trump, Shrugs Off Sanctions

Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng hit back at Donald Trump on Saturday, just hours after the US president said he was instructing officials to begin withdrawing Hong Kong's special economic treatment.

However the minister sidestepped questions on whether she was concerned about Trump's pledge to sanction senior officials on the mainland and in the SAR after Beijing moved to implement a national security law for the territory.

Speaking after a radio programme, Cheng said Trump was completely wrong to suggest that Beijing had deviated from the "One Country, Two Systems" principle in running Hong Kong.

"It is said that we are becoming 'one country, one system' and we've lost the autonomy," Cheng said. "That is completely false and wrong. As a matter of fact, people often forget that Hong Kong SAR is part of China.

"We are one country, and without one country there isn't any basis to talk about two systems, and therefore, as far as national security is concerned, as in any other country in the world, this is a matter that belongs to the central authorities."

Asked whether she was concerned that she could find herself hit with sanctions by the United States, Cheng said Washington was violating international law.

"The US passed their national security laws; so can China. And therefore it is within the sovereign right of each state to pass relevant national security laws."

She said any attempt to intervene in a country's right to pass its national security laws was "arguably infringing on the principle of non-intervention under public international law, and that is not acceptable".