Hong Kong losing its competitive edge, Beijing warns
Top official hopes city will forge ahead, but is accused of trying to divert attention from reform
Hong Kong is losing its competitive edge and will be "swept downstream if it does not forge ahead", warns Beijing's man in charge of Hong Kong affairs.
Zhang Dejiang, No 3 on the seven-man Politburo Standing Committee, is by far the highest-ranking figure to voice such concerns.
But one observer believes Beijing is trying to divert public attention from current political controversies over patriotism and universal suffrage.
Zhang sounded the alarm at his first meeting with a political grouping from Hong Kong since taking charge of the Communist Party's leading group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs.
"Every country in the world is trying to get out of the shadow of the global economic crisis," he told a 31-strong delegation of the Business and Professionals Alliance in Beijing yesterday. "Hong Kong's competitive edge is weakening and will fade away if the city does not put its focus on economic development."
Quoting Deng Xiaoping's warning that "development is the only hard truth", Zhang said: "Only when the economy continues to thrive will livelihoods improve. Everything else is empty talk. Like a boat sailing against the current, it will be swept downstream if it does not forge ahead."