Letters | Beijing must focus on housing to inspire love in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is in a situation where it has a reservoir of land supply but cannot tap it. That supply has been frozen by the small-house policy.

Vice-Premier Han Zheng is right to insist on tackling the problem at the source. It is absurd that the rights of the indigenous people of the New Territories are protected by Article 40 of the Basic Law.

The colonial government granted this group of Hongkongers the right to preserve their traditions in the 1970s. Renowned Australian journalist Richard Hughes called Hong Kong “a borrowed place on borrowed time”. The indigenous people of the New Territories enjoyed unreasonable privileges from 1972 to 2021, and now we must put an end to this.

The central government is going to launch sweeping electoral reforms next year. It stresses that key political positions should be in the hands of Hong Kong “patriots”. I will not comment on this issue as the details of the reforms have not been released, and it is difficult to assess whether someone is truly patriotic or just paying lip service.

Oi Man Estate was among the early crop of the public housing estates built by the colonial government, which also launched the Home Ownership Scheme in the 1970s. Now, the central government can launch a similar project with an Oi Kong – or Love Hong Kong – Estate. The people of Hong Kong are pragmatic, and if the government shows that it truly loves its people, the people will love the government in return.