Reply for the expat:
Forgive me, but may I ask what is the issue with Hongkongers maintaining their differences?
For your reference, I am a local Hongkonger, and I must say our culture and values are distinctive. We are different from Chinese with different mindsets and core values. We do not identify with China's heritage because we are Hongkongers and we are proud of our own history. Our heart belong with and yearn for Hong Kong; the place we called our home. Our homeland was named and built on scratch by the Brits; it's only natural that we do not identify as a Chinese as we have been separate entities ever since Hong Kong made its first debut on the global stage.
Everyone should be free to express their self-identity, and I humbly ask for your respect in honouring that right. It is not elitism and xenophobia to love our own city; we merely wish to protect and preserve her beauty and grace by retaining our unique culture. We identifies as Hongkongers because that's who we are. Your belief that we should identify as Chinese is baffling to me – A nation is defined by its culture and national identity instead of ethnicity, with a prime example being the Anglophone countries having a common ancestry in being Anglo-Saxons, but they have formed different countries, each with their own cultures.
I am not proud of being a Chinese because I am not one of them. I am a Hongkonger, and my city has a wonderful history and rich culture that I should be acknowledging.