(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong’s top legal official warned residents to steer clear of criticisms of the government that stray too far from the facts, as officials defend Beijing’s plan to overhaul the city’s elections.

Hong Kong Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng said in an interview Tuesday that opinions were “no more than an utterance of no value” if the facts weren’t established. Cheng was answering a question about what kind of criticism would be legal in the former British colony after Beijing finishes enacting a wave of legislation including a national security law, as well as the electoral changes.

“Some of the statements that are sometimes uttered, that we hear, are actually not based on facts, or perhaps oblivious of the facts that exist,” Cheng told Bloomberg Television. “And I think that is what one has to be very careful not to embark upon.”

@EngleTV asks Hong Kong Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng on @BloombergTV."One must not use fake news and an opinion that is not fact-based," she says. Read more about the law: https://t.co/Z7i9QtTQ5b pic.twitter.com/YpX9LBXaQR

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