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Hongkongers jealous of mainlanders, say city's own representatives

Scathing comments from city's own delegates to Guangdong committee caught on camera

Hong Kong members of Guangdong's provincial advisory body were slammed as ignorant and unfit for their jobs yesterday after they were seen on television saying Hongkongers were ungrateful to the Communist Party and jealous of wealthy mainlanders.

The comments were made at a meeting of the Hong Kong subcommittee of the Guangdong municipal committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

"You scold the government for being weak every day. You scold the Communist Party every day. You scold China every day," one delegate, Li Hong, said of Hong Kong people. "If you didn't have the Communist Party, didn't have China, you wouldn't even have water."

Li, a mainland-born businessman who moved from Guangdong to Hong Kong in 1984, went on: "You in Hong Kong have so much democracy - what have you done? If the door was shut, without mainland compatriots spending money, what would Hong Kong have? What economic source would you have?"

Li, who has told the Hong Kong-based Chinese newspaper his idol is Mao Zedong, sponsored four schools to subscribe to the pro-Beijing broadsheet for a year in 2007. He is the director of electronics producer Hong Shing Enterprises.

Ng Wai-kuen, who runs garment company Fusion International Holdings in Hong Kong, said: "Now [mainlanders] spend money to buy things in Hong Kong [but Hongkongers] kick them out."

Ng, who moved from the mainland to Hong Kong in 1979, said local people were "green-eyed and disappointed" about "well-off compatriots on the mainland".

"Our shops on Canton Road, so many well-known brands, who buys there? Most Hongkongers only go shopping at Luohu [Commercial] Centre [in Shenzhen]."

The comments, which came amid concerns in Hong Kong over increasing numbers of mainland visitors and closer integration with Guangdong, drew strong criticism.

"As delegates to the conference, they were appointed to reflect the true views [of Hongkongers] and offer concrete solutions to problems in Hong Kong," City University political scientist James Sung Lap-kung said.

"Such viewpoints show they were below standard to take up their roles," Sung said.

An online user left a comment on the website of Cable TV, which broadcast the conference, saying: "These people are short-sighted and know nothing. They confuse right and wrong."

Another wrote: "So Hong Kong's sole economic source is the solo travel scheme?"

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Hongkongers are 'ungrateful and jealous of mainlanders'
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