【明報專訊】IN the debate on land supply, there are groups in both the pro-establishment camp and the pan-democratic camp that advocate expanding Hong Kong's territory. They suggest that the HKSAR government should seek the central government's approval to carry out large scale land reclamation in mainland waters neighbouring Hong Kong. The reclaimed land can then be leased or turned over to Hong Kong. Faced with insufficient land supply, the only way to bring about long term stability and prosperity in Hong Kong is to reclaim land from the sea. However, Hong Kong is able to deal with its own problems. We should not entertain the notion of taking advantage of others and expect the central government to shower Hong Kong with favour. On the surface, "leasing the sea from the mainland to create land" is the easy way out. In reality, it is to shift the responsibility for solving Hong Kong's land problem onto the central government and to turn internal conflicts of Hong Kong into conflicts between the central government and Hong Kong. Whether the central government supports the idea or not, it will give rise to controversies which are not good for either Hong Kong or the mainland.