Update | Intensify the friendship between London and Hong Kong: Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson brushes off electoral reform questions, focusing on promoting trade ties
It was all about business - minus politics - for the maiden visit of London's mayor Boris Johnson to Hong Kong.
Johnson was eager to strengthen trade ties between London and Hong Kong in his meeting with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying yesterday, but much more reluctant to touch on one of Hong Kong's hottest topics - universal suffrage.
"It is a matter for Hong Kong, for the Hong Kong people," Johnson said of the city's impending electoral reform. "It would be wrong of me to weigh in on that."
He was speaking on a ferry trip between Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui as he sampled the city's transport system, part of a week-long trip to China with the British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.
The entourage has toured Beijing and Shanghai seeking to promote investment in Britain.
Johnson's meeting with Leung, he said, would cover a wide range of issues. "There is a great deal of interest in London … including [in strengthening] financial co-operation," he said.
Johnson stressed the common ground shared by Hong Kong and the British capital.