Visiting minister touts 'one identity, two nations' recipe
British politician Peter Hain says he can see parallels between Welsh nationalism in Britain and the debate framing Hong Kong-Beijing relations.
Mr Hain, who is Secretary of State for Wales and leader of the House of Commons, said both Hong Kong and Wales had strong cultural identities, but held them within a larger country.
'There may be [parallels] in the sense that Wales is a very proud nation, with our own identity, our own language, our own culture,' said Mr Hain, 54, who was born in Kenya to South African parents. 'Yet we're also proud to be British, so there's no contradiction there.'
Mr Hain is on a 10-day tour of the region to help strengthen economic ties between Wales and China. Besides his three days in Hong Kong, Mr Hain will also stop in Beijing and Shanghai. He is expected to leave for the mainland today.
He said the creation of the Welsh national legislature in 1999, after lengthy political debate, had helped strengthen its ties to the rest of Britain.