A man wearing a face mask runs at the Victoria Harbor amid COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong, south China on July 29 (XINHUA) 

The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on August 6 refuted a statement of the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) in Hong Kong and urged the FCC to distinguish right from wrong.

The United States, while proclaiming itself as a champion of the freedom of the press, has been ramping up political suppression on Chinese media out of its Cold War mentality and ideological bias, which laid bare its hypocrisy, double standards and hegemonic bullying, a spokesperson of the commissioner's office said.

Given the U.S. action, China will be compelled to take necessary countermeasures to safeguard its rights and interests, the spokesperson said, stressing it is the United States that caused the situation and should be solely responsible for it.

Hong Kong is part of China and the central government has the diplomatic authority to take countermeasures, the spokesperson said.

The national security law in the HKSAR makes it clear that the freedoms of speech, the press and publication of Hong Kong residents will be protected, and the HKSAR government has also reiterated that the law will not erode the institutions that underpin Hong Kong's success as an international city, including the freedoms of expression and the press, and the free flow of information, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson stressed that any freedom should be exercised within legal boundaries, and media outlets are not free from law anywhere in the world.