THE Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Mr Wang Fengchao, was quoted as saying that China would approach countries with close ties to Hong Kong, to see if they were willing to grant visa-free entry to Special Administrative Region (SAR) passport holders (South China Morning Post, October 17). He hoped Britain would take the initiative in offering visa-free entry. May I suggest to Mr Wang, that he tries to persuade the Chinese Government to grant visa-free entry to China, to all non-Chinese residents of Hong Kong. In fact they could go a step further and allow entry on the production of a resident's Hong Kong identity card (not necessarily permanent), as is now allowed by the Portuguese authorities to Macau. If this privilege was granted it would encourage Britain and other countries to allow visa-free entry to SAR passport holders, as well as saving many of us a lot of time and money. J. WILSON Kowloon
