The Hong Kong government on Saturday said that it would not be intimidated by US President Donald Trump’s threats to strip the territory of its special economic status following China’s bid to roll out a new national security law for the city.

Hong Kong’s Security Secretary John Lee told the media that “the US won’t win” by using threats against the regional government..

Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng said Washington would be in violation of international law if the US president followed through with his threat to sanction individuals deemed to be aiding the stripping back of Hong Kong’s autonomy.

According to Hong Kong public media outlet RTHK, Chen said, “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”.

Last week, China proposed a national security law for Hong Kong in response to last year’s violent pro-democracy protests that plunged the city into its deepest turmoil since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Hong Kong, an economic powerhouse, is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. It has observed a “one country, two systems” policy since Britain returned sovereignty to China on July 1, 1997, which has allowed it certain freedoms the rest of China does not have.

It comes after a year of pro-democracy protests in the financial hub, which first emerged as a response to efforts by local authorities to introduce an extradition law that opponents said would allow China to target dissidents and free speech activists.

Finance secretary Paul Chan said Hong Kong was drawing up a contingency plan in case the US withdrew the region’s special economic status.

On Friday, Trump attacked China over its treatment of the former British colony, saying it was “diminishing the city’s longstanding and proud status”.

It comes after a year of pro-democracy protests in the financial hub, which first emerged as a response to efforts by local authorities to introduce an extradition law that opponents said would allow China to target dissidents and free speech activists.

Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist, called on the international community to form an alliance against the new security law, saying: “actions speak louder than words”.

The US-China relations have hit a rough patch on the issues of trade, the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Beijing’s new security crackdown in Hong Kong, Uighur crackdown and the communist nation’s aggressive military moves in the disputed South China Sea.