Hong Kong's Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) told businessmen on Monday to reduce pollution emissions from their factories in southern China blamed for the choking smog which often hits the region.
In his sternest warning to captains of industry, the chief executive said the problem was in Hong Kong's hands, because its businessmen owned most of the factories across the border.
"The bulk of the manufacturing capability in [southern China] is owned by the people around us in this very room," Tsang told a luncheon meeting of Hong Kong's leading businessmen.
He warned that lower pollution cannot be achieved "unless you guys emit in your factories cleaner air, not only in the Pearl River Delta but here as well."
Both the government and Friends of the Earth Hong Kong estimate that some 80 percent of the city's pollution comes from southern China's heavily industrialized Pearl River Delta region.
Tsang's warning was timely, coming as the city was cloaked in a blanket of smog. The pollution reading nudged 100, a level which carries an automatic health warning with sufferers of respiratory problems urged to stay at home.
Tsang, who was appointed by Beijing to lead the territory in July, said in his first state-of-the-territory address last week that tackling pollution was a policy priority.
However, he said Monday that progress would also depend on co-operation with the mainland's authorities.
"This sort of thing takes a bit of time," he said. "Hong Kong has done what we can ... but we have to do a bit more as far as they are concerned in the mainland."
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