Storm over a toddler’s inconvenience uncalled for

Amainland couple visiting Hong Kong, finding a long queue at a public toilet, let their toddler relieve himself in public with the mother using a paper nappy to prevent any mess on the street.

A young local man tried to stop them while taking photos of the toddler from close-up. This led to a clash and the mainland couple ended up being arrested.

The mainland couple’s behavior was not all appropriate, although a child might be excused when nature calls, but so too was the behavior of the local man in taking improper photos, although this was regrettably ignored by the police and commentators inHong Kong, including some big media names.

This incident has once again highlighted the mounting tensions between mainlanders and people in the special administrative region, something that poses unnecessary harm to the city.

The number of people from the mainland visitingHong Kong has soared over the past couple of years as a result of newtourism policies— in 2012, 38 million out of the total 45 million tourists visitingHong Kong were from the mainland – and the city was not prepared for such a huge number of visitors. It simply does not have the public facilities to deal with such a large influx of people. As a result, some local people feel the growing number of mainland tourists is having a negative effect on their daily lives, and antimainland sentiment is on the rise.

Understandably, ordinary people are not aware of the benefits of the growth in tourism after the implementation of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement and related policies. Instead, they just see the inconvenience caused by tourists. And some local media have pandered to their disgruntlement by irresponsibly fanning the flames. For example, aHong Kong-based television journalist said in her micro blog that the mainland mother slapped the face of theHong Kong man during the dispute, leading to criticism of the mainland couple. But theHong Kong police later said their investigation did not uphold that accusation.

While manyHong Kong people criticize mainlanders for being indecent, theymay not know that some mainlanders criticize them for their “civilized rudeness”, as typified by the young man’s improper photo-taking.

Hong Kong has been a unique economic “superconnector” for the mainland, a role that has reinforced the city’s global status as a finance and trade hub. The mainland has benefited massively from this, and, in recent years, it has learned a lot fromHong Kong as it improves its social and economic management.

Relations that are mutually beneficial need to be strengthened not weakened in this already turbulent world; it would be regrettable if relations between people in the mainland and people in the special administrative region were derailed by some childish bi-directional finger pointing or discrimination. After all, when they work together, they can face many challenges in a unified way, much better than could be achieved on their own. This was clearly demonstrated during the financial turmoil in Asia in 1997 and 1998, when they faced down international finance moguls and their attempts at speculation. Some East Asian countries easily fell prey to the bullying of international capitalists andHong Kong had a very rough time at first before support from the central government turned the tide.

And mainlanders can hardly forget how together they tackled the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis in 2003, whenHong Kong’s experience in controlling the disease served as a valuable reference point for the mainland.

Clearly, when they join hands and work together, they emerge stronger.

There are still many uncertainties in the global economic recovery and there could be newcrises in the future, so it is all the more sensible for people in both the mainland and Hong Kong to keep a check on any bad feelings about each other. The author is senior writer with China Daily. xinzhiming@chinadaily.com.cn