HONG KONG - The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's government has refuted a claim by US President Donald Trump that Hong Kong now operated under "one country, one system", describing the claim as "completely false and ignored the facts on the ground."

In a statement issued on Saturday evening, a spokesman for the HKSAR government said it deeply regretted the "continuous smearing and demonizing of the the legitimate rights and duty of our sovereign to safeguard national security in the HKSAR which in turn is aimed at restoring stability to Hong Kong society."

We are not unduly worried by such threats as Hong Kong will continue to rely on her fundamental strengths of the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, free and open trade policy, level playing field, etc and unique advantages brought about by the continuous opening up of the mainland economy

HKSAR govt

Hong Kong is an inalienable part of China. Any suggestion that the People's Republic of China does not have the right to protect its own territory from separatists, terror and anarchy does not stand up to scrutiny and smacks of hypocrisy and double standards, the spokesman said in the statement. 

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"To allege that the improved legal system and enforcement mechanisms targeting an extremely small minority of criminals to be introduced by the national security law is undermining Hong Kong people's freedoms is simply fallacious," the spokesman said.

The spokesman also said sanctions or trade restrictions against Hong Kong are unjustified. 

"They (sanctions or trade restrictions) will lead to a breakdown of the mutually beneficial Hong Kong-US relationship built up over the years and only hurt local and US businesses in Hong Kong and the people working for them," the spokesman said.

"We are not unduly worried by such threats as Hong Kong will continue to rely on her fundamental strengths of the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, free and open trade policy, level playing field, etc and unique advantages brought about by the continuous opening up of the mainland economy," the spokesman said.

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In recent years, Hong Kong has been diversifying its markets, including more focus on the fast-growing ASEAN economies, which as a whole was Hong Kong’s second largest trading partner. 

In 2019, ASEAN economics accounted for 12.1 percent of Hong Kong's total trade, as compared to 6.2 percent with the US, the spokesman said.

The US has been enjoying a trade surplus with Hong Kong over the years which has been its biggest trader partners, the spokesman said.

"In 2019, total trade in goods between Hong Kong and the US stood at HK$517 billion (i.e. 6.2 percent of our total trade in goods), whereas our domestic exports to the US was a modest HK$3.7 billion. According to the US, US enjoyed a trade surplus of over HK$200 billion with Hong Kong in 2019," the spokesman said.