Such standards may not be appropriate for conditions in developing countries like China, Mr. Wu said, adding that “we hope the few consulates in China would respect our country’s relevant laws and regulations, and stop publishing this unrepresentative air-quality information.”

In case anyone missed the point, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, said at a briefing later in the day, “Of course, if the foreign embassies want to collect air-quality information for their own staff or diplomats, I think that is their own matter, but we believe that this type of information should not be released to the public.”

The American Embassy began tracking and releasing air-quality data in 2008, followed by its Guangzhou consulate last year and the Shanghai consulate last month.

Officials in China and Hong Kong have grudgingly responded by moving to release their own data on extremely fine particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter, a size that penetrates particularly deep into lungs and has been linked to cancer and other respiratory problems. Public awareness in China of the health hazards associated with extremely fine particles has soared with the release of the American data, and particularly smoggy days now set off a surge in mentions of “PM2.5” on Weibo, a popular Chinese microblogging service similar to Twitter.

The criticism of the United States by Chinese officials comes after officials in Shanghai have recently taken exception to the public availability of data from the new monitor there. Richard L. Buangan, the American Embassy spokesman, wrote in an e-mail that the monitor “is a resource for the health of the consulate community, but is also available through our Twitter feed for American citizens who may find the data useful.”