As Hong Kong prepares to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule this year, the former British colony grapples with several problems that have bedeviled its relationship with the mainland.
Some of the biggest issues making recent headlines are tainted food from the mainland, pollution from factories across the border that blackened the skies and pregnant Chinese women giving birth in Hong Kong and skipping out on the bill.
Such problems and many more will be inevitable as the two places become closer, said Li Pang-kwong (李彭廣), a political scientist at Lingnan University.
"It takes time for the two places to integrate because cross-border monitoring system and coordination are yet to be complete. There are still loopholes which cause the social problems," he said.
The upside of the return to China has been considerable. Hong Kong does a booming business with the mainland, where the city's businesses have invested in more than 60,000 factories. Big-spending tourists from China's new middle class have been filling up Hong Kong's malls.
But there's been a downside to Hong Kong's proximity to the mainland. A recent spate of food safety scares has been one of the best examples of how the city still has problems dealing with the mainland.
Media reports about contaminated mainland food poured in throughout the year.
First it was vegetables containing pesticide residue, followed by fish containing malachite green, a possibly cancer-causing chemical used to treat fungal infections in fish. Eggs were discovered to be tainted with industrial dye Sudan Red. Bean curd products were also found with carcinogenic chemicals.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth's Hong Kong branch said the two different jurisdictions have turned air pollution into a political, rather than purely an environmental issue.
"Although we've become one country, authorities can only control things within their own bound-ary," acting director Edwin Lau Che-feng said.
Hong Kong has been choking in smog in the past few years. Guangdong Province is one of China's largest manufacturing bases. Its air pollution often blows down to Hong Kong, whose famous skyline is frequently obscured by haze.
To improve the environment, Hong Kong and its Guangdong counterparts have agreed to cut four major air pollutants -- sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, respirable suspended particulates and volatile organic compounds -- by 20 percent to 55 percent by 2010, taking 1997 as the base year.
"They are working separately to meet the target. Hong Kong officials cannot demand its mainland counterparts meet their environmental standard because it will override China's authorities," Lau said.
He added that Hong Kong also generated its own share because many of the polluting factories are run by Hong Kong businesses.
Relaxed travel regulations and easier access to Hong Kong have also paved the way for mainlanders to earn a quick residence status.
Thousands of pregnant mainlanders have flocked to Hong Kong on tourist visas to give birth. Many have left town without paying their hospital bills.
In the past five years, about two-thirds of the HK$322 million (US$42 million) in hospital debt was owed by non-residents.
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