LEGISLATORS are upset at France for blocking Hong Kong's application to attend a major international trade meeting as an observer.
''The French decision to bar Hong Kong from important trade discussions on the grounds that Hong Kong discriminated against French luxury goods is unreasonable and hegemonic,'' United Democrat legislator and trade and industry panel member Albert Chan Wai-yip said yesterday.
On Monday, the South China Morning Post revealed that France had made an unprecedented move to bar Hong Kong from being an observer at a meeting of the Trade Committee of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the major economic forum for industrialised countries.
France said it was trying to draw attention to the territory's new alcohol tax structure, which it claimed discriminated against French products.
But Jimmy McGregor, the Legislative Council representative of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, said France had discriminated against Hong Kong on trade issues on other occasions.
He cited France's objection to Hong Kong's bid to become an associate member of the European common market, while French dependent territories were granted the status.