The practice of “forced shopping” for visitors who take part in “zero-fee tours” to Hong Kong is not in line with Hong Kong’s cosmopolitan status as an advanced and civilised city, Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam said today.
Society must discuss whether to tolerate this behaviour – in which Mainland visitors are offered a free coach trip to the city, not to see many attractions, but to shop. If tourists agree to the terms, though, there is little the Government can do under the law as it can be seen as a kind of market behaviour, Mr Tam added.
He also reiterated that there was no plan for the Government to re-launch a debate on political reform in the current term.
In response to a reporter’s query on British Prime Minister David Cameron’s statement seeking assurances from President Xi Jinping that the election of the Chief Executive has no prior screening from Beijing, Mr Tam said that he did not see corresponding comments in any official press releases.
However, he noted that a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman had reiterated that the Central Government’s position is in line with the Special Administrative Region’s, to promote constitutional development in accordance with the Basic Law and the decisions made by the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
