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A sign welcomes drivers to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on March 18. While Beijing has stepped up calls for airlines to stop treating Hong Kong as separate from China, documents issued in Hong Kong, such as driver’s licences, are not accepted on the mainland. Photo: Joshua Lee  

If Hong Kong is part of China, why the double standards over some documents?

Your article “US blasts China for ‘Orwellian’ airline demand” (May 7) states that China is once again forcing companies not to list Hong Kong as a separate country. For example, on many websites and online forms, Hong Kong shows up separate from China under the “country” section. However, if the Chinese government is telling the rest of the world to change, then it should start by changing its own practices. 
When I had to submit a consular declaration from any Netherlands embassy or consulate in China to a government office in Shenzhen, I was told by the official there that they did not accept the declaration from the consulate in Hong Kong as this “is not China”. I pointed out that the central government might not like what I had just heard, but that Hong Kong people would be very happy if he could get his statement confirmed by his superiors. 

He laughed at my remark but still did not accept the declaration, so I had to persuade the Netherlands consulate in Guanghzou to issue it again based on the document I had received from the consulate in Hong Kong. 

Apart from that, since we are one country, can I then please drive my car from Hong Kong to mainland China like in any other country? Can I also get a waiver for a visa to visit China? I have been living in Hong Kong since 1994 but still need a visa and passport to go to another city in China. Does Beijing want to have its cake and eat it too?

 Jeffry Kuperus, Clear Water Bay

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