Hong Kong businesses must consider national interests while pursuing commercial deals, the city’s leader has said, arguing that the two are not mutually exclusive.

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings has recently drawn the ire of Beijing over a controversial deal to sell its overseas ports to a consortium led by US investment giant BlackRock.

Without commenting directly on the controversy, Lee argued in general that commercial and national interests did not have to contradict each other.

“When you do business, you have the maximum freedom to pursue your own goals and foster capitalism,” Lee said.

“But at the same time, there are things that you don’t want to hurt, because hurting those things will also hurt your business.”