We refer to the article by Margaret Ng headlined 'Tung needs to cut out the put- downs' (South China Morning Post, January 29).
We totally disagree with Ms Ng's suggestion that Hong Kong fears competition from Shanghai as a financial centre and that we are pleading with Beijing for economic favours.
We are not playing a zero-sum game with the mainland. As Hong Kong is the largest source of foreign direct investment in the mainland, including Shanghai, the economic progress of these places will bring considerable opportunities for our investors and businesses. The entrepreneurial spirit of our businessmen means they go where opportunities exist. If our professional sector could stretch its horizons by going beyond the population of 6.7 million in Hong Kong and provide services to a potential mainland market of 1.2 billion, this would contribute significantly to the restructuring of the SAR's economy. Such success will bring about the next paradigm shift in the Hong Kong economy.
Like Ms Ng, we believe that Hong Kong's sense of pride does not 'lie just in the money it made, but in its pluralism, its world-class professionals and practices, its rule of law and system of justice, its respect for the lives and rights of citizens'. However, we totally disagree that this has been eroded under the leadership of the Chief Executive.
We value the rule of law as one of Hong Kong's fundamental strengths. And we have fully respected it in dealing with the right-of-abode issue. The power of final adjudication remains with the Court of Final Appeal (CFA). Some 4,000 claimants for right of abode have been allowed to stay here according to the CFA's decision in January 1999 and the concession by the Hong Kong SAR Government.
Miss Ng suggests there is 'political deconstruction' in Hong Kong. That is not true and it is not an opinion shared by the rest of the world. People recognise that 'one country, two systems' has become a reality in our everyday lives since 1997. Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people who emigrated before 1997 have returned because of their confidence in the SAR. Reports from the US State Department, British Foreign Office and the European Commission have affirmed the successful implementation of 'one country, two systems'.
