Hong Kong should facilitate trade at border towns, not vilify it

Northern New Territories shopping malls are not for the faint-hearted; the approaching Lunar New Year has made them more than usually a magnet for shoppers from Shenzhen and parallel-goods traders. Residents of Tuen Mun and other towns, frustrated by the competition for daily necessities, are increasingly angry at what they see as unwarranted disruption to lives. Shop owners and transport companies see it differently, the business being exceedingly welcome. Free markets resolve such rifts over time, but tensions are rising so rapidly that authorities have to help ensure innovative solutions are quickly put in place.

A city built on the backbone of trading should have no difficulty coming up with answers. The parallel-goods traders are only doing what Hong Kong does on a larger scale every day: buy and sell. Instead of shunning, vilifying or driving them away, we should be capitalising. A plan for an outdoor shopping centre near the Lok Ma Chau border checkpoint that would convert shipping containers into shops is the right idea; if it can get backing, the 420,000 sq ft site could be ready by the start of the mainland's Golden Week holiday in October.

This is the sort of innovation that will ease the strains in overrun districts. Transport companies can better handle passengers and baggage. The government has a vital role to play as a facilitator and coordinator on a range of issues from land provision to street management to the supply of goods.

Residents will have to persevere until measures are in place. The temptation to turn to protests like those at the weekend, which got so out of control that police had to step in, have to be resisted. As Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said yesterday, such behaviour is unacceptable. Demonstrations cause only resentment and offer no solution.

Hong Kong offers Shenzhen people lower prices, wider choices and better quality. Food and product scares on the mainland have for years had them buying our baby milk formula, a favoured item for parallel traders. A 1.8kg limit for formula and tough penalties have failed to deter law-breaking. Although more than 25,000 traders have been barred and penalties toughened, the number of offenders continues to rise.

The mainland has taken far-reaching steps to improve standards, but much work remains. Until there is confidence, Hong Kong is in the fortunate situation of being able to benefit. Opportunities lie in our strengths of innovation and creativity.