Thus the advantages and disadvantages of the Individual Visit Scheme are obvious.

The creation of the global village is an international trend. For instance, citizens of Schengen countries in the European Union can freely enter and exit all the Schengen countries. With China's prosperity in recent years, more and more countries loosed the restrictions on visas for Chinese. As more and more mainland residents have been to Hong Kong and more and more countries provide convenience to Chinese citizens in applying for a visa, the phenomenon of so many mainland residents rushing to Hong Kong for tourism and shopping won't last. More and more mainland residents are choosing to travel to Thailand, Japan, Europe, the United States and Australia, rather than Hong Kong.

Although 49 mainland cities have been included in the Hong Kong Individual Visit Scheme, they only account for a small proportion of the 660 cities in China, including prefecture-level cities and county-level cities. It shows that the Central Government has already restricted the number of cities included in the Individual Visit Scheme.

There are many international metropolises that are full of visitors every day, they make great efforts to attract tourists from all over the world. Few authorities carry out measures to restrict people from visiting certain places.

Economic exchanges and interpersonal interactions between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are an irresistible trend. Those who highlight the disadvantages of Hong Kong Individual Visit Scheme only want to find an excuse to reduce the interaction between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

The author is a professor of law at Peking University.