HONG KONG (Reuters) – Beijing’s top representative in Hong Kong said on Thursday that any foreign powers that try to use the global financial centre as a pawn will face counter measures, amid escalating tensions between the city and Western governments.

Luo Huining, the director at China’s Hong Kong Liaison Office, was speaking at a ceremony to mark National Security Education Day.

Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong last June that Western governments have condemned as an effort to crush dissent in the former British colony.

Reporting By Clare Jim; Editing by Anne MArie Roantree and Christian Schmollinger