Hong Kong's top official has warned against British interference in the territory's politics after a UK Foreign Office minister called for democratic reform in a local newspaper, underscoring lingering sensitivities over foreign influence in the former UK colony.

On Saturday, the South China Morning Post published an opinion piece by Hugo Swire arguing that Hong Kong's progress in adopting universal suffrage is "vital to its future stability".

"There is no perfect model anywhere in the world, but the important thing is that the people of Hong Kong have a genuine choice to enable them to feel they have a real stake in the outcome," he wrote, adding: "Britain stands ready to support in any way we can."

The territory's chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, fired back one day later with a clear admonition. "Hong Kong doesn't need the British [or] any other foreign government's support," he told reporters at a public meeting on Sunday, according to the South China Morning Post. "For any foreign official who wants to participate or intervene, the past experience is very clear – it will only do the opposite for Hong Kong's political reform, including the people they wanted to support or influence."

Hong Kong's chief executive has been selected by an elite, predominantly Beijing-friendly committee since 1997, when Britain handed administrative control over the territory to mainland China. Hong Kong's mini-constitution, called the Basic Law, frames the adoption of universal suffrage as an "ultimate aim", and Beijing has promised Hong Kongers the right to elect their own top leader by 2017. Yet pro-democracy activists, concerned by encroaching mainland influence in the territory's schools, media, and courts, say efforts have stalled.

Michael DeGolyer, a professor of government at Hong Kong Baptist University, said Leung's sharp response may have been a matter of timing.

"The most important thing is to realise that we're in the midst of a power shift in China," he said. In November, Beijing will hold its most important political meeting since a once-in-a-decade leadership transition last autumn. Discussions concerning Hong Kong's democratic transition are almost certainly on the agenda.

"Absolutely nobody in China who is anybody is going to want to say that their priorities have been influenced by foreign powers," he said. "Leung is simply not going to thank the British and the Americans for their concern."

On Saturday, pro-Beijing officials cut down a proposal called "civil nomination", which would allow segments of the Hong Kong population to nominate candidates for chief executive. Huang Nanfa, deputy director of the central government's liaison office, called the idea "a counterfeit which has absolutely no legal grounds and could never be implemented", according to the South China Morning Post.