United Front chief Sun Chunlan tells young Hongkongers to love their country and make the most of close ties with China

The head of the Communist Party's United Front Work Department yesterday met the city's tycoons on her first trip to Hong Kong and called on young people to love their country and be responsible towards it.

Sun Chunlan , a Politburo member who succeeded the disgraced Ling Jihua earlier this year, was the first central government official responsible for Hong Kong affairs to visit the city after the pro-democracy sit-ins last year.

Her trip also came amid state media's continuing attacks on embattled tycoon Li Ka-shing, accusing him of being "unpatriotic" for offloading his assets on the mainland.

A CK Hutchison Holdings spokesman said Li was invited to the breakfast meeting with the tycoons, but he was not in town.

His son and deputy chairman of Hutchison, Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, who was present, described the atmosphere at breakfast as good as he again dismissed accusations the conglomerate was withdrawing from the mainland.

"We have just started tens of billions of [dollars worth of] investment on a natural gas project," he said. "Our company Husky is teaming up with a mainland company and it is the biggest natural gas project in China."