Hong Kong's sole delegate to the country's top legislature on Sunday said all Chinese people should do their part to help the nation’s development, and business exchanges are only sustainable if it is a win-win situation.

Starry Lee made the comment when asked on a TVB programme about Beijing officials reposting articles criticising CK Hutchison's sale of its Panama Canal ports – and dozens of other ports across the globe – to a US consortium.

She added that businesspeople and Hong Kong residents have always been able to create win-win situations for all parties.

"The best way to approach matters is to create win-win situations. Because no matter if you're talking about doing business or having an exchange with other people, it's only sustainable if it's win-win and benefits both parties," the member of the National People's Congress Standing Committee said.

"We think Hong Kong people are always flexible. We've always been able to grasp the idea of creating win-win situations."

Lee, a former chairwoman of the DAB party, also said the Northern Metropolis development has been too slow, and the Hong Kong government can speed things up by creating what she called "an SAR within an SAR".

She said such a development mode has been adopted on the mainland where officials would cut red tape and adopt a different set of vetting procedures for projects.