One day after a scuffle involving cross-border traders and local residents last Saturday, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying made a private visit to see the situation first hand. He observed the traders pushing goods from railway station exits to a nearby industrial building.

Official visits by top leaders lead to a thorough clean-up in advance, sweeping ugly issues under the carpet. Only a private and unexpected appearance could render the Chief Executive a true perspective of the situation. It is encouraging to see the top leader making a prompt attempt to tackle the problem.

Since his inaugural visits to the city's districts, Leung advocated his pragmatic philosophy to respect folk wisdom to "tackle district matters in their own ways, seize the opportunities through district wisdom". His theory is applicable to the latest uproar in Sheung Shui, or the North District. Different solutions are proposed.

Leung listened to suggested solutions to curbing so-called parallel trading effectively from the North District chairman and elected councilors. The top leader stood at the same spot where scuffles had taken place a day earlier between some 300 protesters and mainland traders.

Cross-border traders were targets of curses and insulting language by protesters, who blamed the traders for creating a nuisance and distorting the local district economy. Mainland traders are always in a hurry pushing trolleys overloaded with their bulky purchases. They block passageways for commuters. Some even run their carts into commuters. They litter and create an unsightly mess.

Prices have soared at least 10-15 percent in Tai Po, Fanling and Sheung Shui because of heavy demand for consumer goods brought about by the cross border traders. Bulging bags on trolleys are always packed with products like illicit cigarettes, Chinese medicine ointment, Japanese brand Yakult yogurt drinks, infant milk powder, diapers, mobile phones, laptop computers, shampoo and toothpaste. Daily necessities and toiletries from Hong Kong in bulk are sold online for higher prices on the mainland.

These traders actually work as couriers, transporting goods across the border and merchandising those selected items based on a list provided to them by purchasing syndicates. The trading model is not traders retailing over the border on their own. The mastermind employers behind the scenes for these bulk purchasers are not identifiable. It is lucrative for parallel traders to make huge profits by evading mainland customs. This hefty loss of customs tariff amounts to over 2 million yuan a year. This has caught the attention of Shenzhen customs authorities.

Cross-border joint crackdowns on illegal exports should be stepped up at Lo Wu border and railway stations in the North District. This matter was raised at the first meeting of a newly-formed working task force between Shenzhen and Hong Kong customs authorities, to start laying out a plan to combat illegal cross-border exports.

Arrivals of Shenzhen residents with multi-entry permits to Hong Kong soared to 6.17 million last year. That accounted for nearly a quarter of the 28.1 million total mainland arrivals to the city. Traders are not conventional tourists. It is easy to differentiate them from ordinary tourists, through their habit of making multiple daily arrivals in Hong Kong. Tourists' condition of stay in Hong Kong is an area worth exploring to plug the loopholes that allow the influx of mainland traders.

Tourism Development Council chairman and CCPCC member James Tien Pei-chun suggested restricting the multiple-entry permit to one-entry per day. The legal counsels, immigration authorities and police should jointly investigate this grey area of illegal traders to decide if these mainland visitors are breaching the laws and are employed as black laborers in the city.

With the blessing of the central government and the granting of the Individual Visit Scheme, Hong Kong has benefited immensely since July 2003. Our semi-skilled or unskilled workers get more employment as various service sectors flourish.

But a coin has two sides. Hong Kong is a civilized international financial hub and tourist center. The scenes of scuffles between protesters and traders over the weekend seriously stained our image. Mainland visitors are welcome but the scuffles have agitated anti-mainlander sentiments.

Long before last weekend's protest at Sheung Shui against mainland traders, we had seen protests break out outside brand shops in Tsim Sha Tsui. Mainlanders are insulted as "a plague of locust'. Waves of discontent and irrational sentiments against mainlanders have been rising.

Closer cross-border integration is to be encouraged. It is an irreversible trend. But free flow of people, goods and money has produced unexpected and negative consequences in the city. There is no evidence it will worsen the cross-border trading problem, but it poses another psychological factor to sparkle more sentiments against mainland tourists in the city.

The government should pay heed to local concerns over too great an influx of mainland tourists and its subsequent impact. Our local tourism facilities for short-haul tourists are already overloaded.

The author is a veteran journalist and current news commentator.

(HK Edition 09/22/2012 page3)