Accept your fall from grace, Chinese state-run paper tells Li Ka-shing after he rebukes critics
Li Ka-shing should adapt himself to his “de-deification” on the mainland as he is no longer deemed a patriotic exemplar but just a profit-driven businessman, said the Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times today in response to the tycoon’s stern rebuttal to mainland media criticisms.
It's about time tycoon Li Ka-shing got used to losing his "deified status" on the mainland as he is no longer deemed an exemplar of patriotism but is just a profit-driven businessman, a Communist Party mouthpiece has said in response to his rebuttal of criticism by state media.
The state-run Global Times urged Hong Kong's richest man to refrain from "making a big fuss" over media claims that he was "unpatriotic" in withdrawing capital from the mainland.
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"Mainlanders now tend to see Li as a profit-driven businessman, rather than as a role model who loves the country and Hong Kong. But from a business perspective, they think this is normal," the newspaper, a tabloid subsidiary of People's Daily, said in a Chinese-language editorial yesterday.
It went on to suggest Li had become so accustomed to media adoration that he had difficulty accepting how people regarded him presently.
"Mainland society does not view the recent comments about him as antagonistic. It is just a 'dedeification' process to which the mainland public has adjusted itself," the editorial said. "Maybe [Li] also needs to adapt to it."
The rejoinder from state media came a day after Li hit out on Tuesday at what he called "Cultural Revolution-style" attacks against him.