China warns foreign media in Hong Kong over fire coverage

China's national security office in Hong Kong warned foreign media on Saturday not to spread "false information" or "smear" government efforts to deal with the city's worst fire in nearly 80 years.

Ahead of a legislative council election on Sunday in the global financial hub, the Office for Safeguarding National Security said it had summoned a number of unspecified foreign media outlets, criticising coverage of the fire that killed at least 159 people at the Wang Fuk Court high-rise residential complex.

Reuters was not contacted about the meeting and did not participate.

"Some foreign media have recently reported on Hong Kong ignoring the facts, spreading false information, distorting and smearing the government's disaster relief and aftermath work, attacking and interfering with the Legislative Council election, provoking social division and opposition," the statement said.

The office said it convened the meeting in line with a national security law Beijing imposed on the former British colony in 2020 after mass pro-democracy protests. The law says the office may "take necessary measures to strengthen the management" of foreign entities, including news agencies.

Saturday's meeting appeared to be the first such gathering of foreign media en masse to face criticism for their coverage of a specific event by the office, which is led by senior Chinese Ministry of State Security officials.

Since the 2019 protests, when millions took to the streets, Beijing and Hong Kong authorities have cracked down on dissent in the city, arresting opposition democrats and shuttering liberal media outlets and civil society groups.

Saturday's meeting comes as the authorities scramble to contain public anger over the blaze, in which poor oversight and shoddy materials used in a renovation have been cited as causes of the fire's devastating spread.

Authorities have detained several activists who pushed for greater government accountability. Beijing has also warned people against using the disaster to "disrupt Hong Kong". 

Hong Kong ranks 140th of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by the advocacy group Reporters without Borders.

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, 77, a prominent China critic, faces potentially being jailed for life in a national security trial. US President Donald Trump pressed his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a meeting last month to release Lai, Reuters reported.