Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen has urged Hong Kong people not to put narrow interests above community and national ones at the expense of the city's long-term competitiveness.
Speaking in an interview for a six-part South China Morning Post series on competitiveness beginning today, Mr Tang fears Hong Kong's competitiveness will be eroded if people are too narrowly focused on their own sectors.
'At present, individual interest overrides organisation interest. Organisation interest is above industry interest. Industry interest takes precedence over society interest. Hong Kong interest overrides the nation's interest. This is our shortcoming.
'We need to have a sense of community spirit ... to be alert. Unless we continue to bring benefit to our country, bring something to the table, we will become a burden.
'We have to be aware it is not just selfish interest for Hong Kong. We must have a whole country's interest in mind. When we do something, we will benefit from it, we will also benefit the country. We lack that sense.
'The whole community should be more aware of what's going on around us and should be more vigilant in considering our competitiveness in a holistic way,' said Mr Tang.
He cited the importance of people putting overall interest above sector-based interests in considering a sales tax to help tackle the problem of unstable revenue.
