IT HAS TAKEN the current controversy over the new plan to admit more mainland professionals for the Government implicitly to admit a long-standing truth: Hong Kong discriminates against people from elsewhere in China.
Not just in the form of popular prejudice, which is arguably a little less prevalent than in previous decades, but also by the continuing institutional discrimination that is practised by the Government through its immigration policies.
Of course, Financial Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was not prepared to say this so bluntly. But evidently well aware that it buttresses the Government's case for the controversial scheme - which is under fire from many politicians and unionists - he did allude to this previously unspoken truth in a speech last Tuesday.
Mr Tsang noted it was 'a little ironic that there is so much comment on our plans when there are generally no restrictions on the entry for employment of foreign professionals with the right skills'.
That assertion is difficult to dispute. But although it might now suit the Government's purposes to highlight this in an effort to win support for the scheme - which will initially allow employers to bring in mainland professionals in the information-technology and financial-services fields - there are many other ironies it still prefers to leave unstated.
Ever wondered why Hong Kong has 130,000 Filipino domestic helpers yet hardly any Chinese amahs, although many families would clearly rather have someone who can speak Cantonese? That is because the Immigration Department makes it easy to fly in a helper from elsewhere in the world, yet almost impossible to bring one across the border from Guangdong.
Then there is the irony that Hong Kongers who wed a foreigner can usually immediately bring their spouse to live in the SAR, although those who marry across the border must sometimes wait up to 10 years before their partner can get the one-way permit demanded only from mainlanders.