Hong Kong officials have been using their trips overseas to present an accurate picture of developments in the financial hub and ensure foreigners do not rely on those with ulterior motives or misleading online information, the city’s leader has said.

Speaking at an event for students organised by Beijing’s foreign affairs office in the city on Saturday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also urged teachers to deepen pupils’ understanding of diplomacy and national development to “cultivate a new force for Hong Kong that loves the country”.

City leader Lee speaks at the event’s award ceremony.

“My team and I have actively visited different countries and regions in recent months … to introduce in person the city’s latest developments to our friends overseas, so they can understand the real situation in Hong Kong and not be mistaken by people with ulterior motives, especially lies or misleading videos circulating online,” he said.

Such trips could also help foster cooperation in areas including culture, economy, trade, finance, and innovation and technology, Lee told the audience at the awards ceremony for the Hong Kong Cup Diplomatic Knowledge Contest.

Since taking office last July, Lee and his ministers have visited countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, as well as cities in mainland China.

Last week, the chief executive returned from a three-day trip to Chongqing, a municipality in the mainland’s southwest

At Saturday’s ceremony, Lee also laid out his expectations for educators and called on them to enhance students’ understanding of national development, while also nurturing a love of the city and nation.

Speaking at the same event, Liu Guangyuan, commissioner of the foreign ministry’s arm in the city, urged students to align their pursuits with the “national dream” and “international dream”.

“Being patriotic is a duty of Hong Kong’s young people,” he said. “I hope that young people will love their motherland through actual actions.”

Earlier on Saturday, Lee said a facility under construction near the border with the mainland would “become the city’s biggest I&T platform”, referring to the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park.

“It will become the city’s biggest innovation and technology platform and form a new cooperation zone with the Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Zone,” Lee told a science forum.

He added that such cooperative efforts would help lure overseas talent and contribute to the development of the Greater Bay Area, Beijing’s plan to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an economic powerhouse.