Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor attends a news conference after the annual Policy Address in Hong Kong on Nov. 25, 2020. (Reuters)
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s new Policy Address emphasizes the need for Hong Kong to “integrate into national development”. On the economic front, Chief Executive Mrs. Carrie Lam stressed the need for Hong Kong to become a “participant” in the domestic “great cycle” and a “facilitator” of the international cycle, in line with the Chinese Communist Party’s General Secretary Xi Jinping’s proposal to “integrate into the national development”. The “double-cycle” political slogan. Some Hong Kong economists argue that the policy is entirely from the perspective of the mainland and changes Hong Kong’s past international positioning.
Mrs. Lam delivered her fourth Policy Address on Wednesday (25), announcing a number of measures to promote the development of the Greater Bay Area and integrate Hong Kong into national development, including the “Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme”, deepening financial interoperability between the two places, allowing Hong Kong International Airport to invest in Zhuhai Airport, implementing “co-location” at the new Huanggang control point, studying the optimization of the Luohu control point, as well as in Hong Kong and Shenzhen land crossings also implement “Hong Kong vehicles northbound” policy.
Mrs. Lam said that Hong Kong has the advantage of “one country, two systems”, can further strengthen the role of “intermediary” in the international cycle.
On the other hand, Hong Kong can focus on business opportunities in the mainland market, better integrate into the national development situation, and take the development of the Greater Bay Area as an entry point to actively become a “participant” in the domestic cycle and a “facilitator” of the international cycle, playing this dual role will bring a steady stream of momentum to the Hong Kong economy.
Hong Kong economist Alan Lo said in an interview with the station that the measure is entirely from the perspective of the mainland and changes the international positioning of Hong Kong in the past.
What else can be done to surround you? Just tell you to keep going to the Bay Area. What else is there to locate? People say you are “one country, one system”, not an international city.
Even if Hong Kong enterprises are interested in doing business in the mainland, the domestic market has already been developed, and Hong Kong businessmen are afraid that they will lose their cost advantage and find it difficult to develop in the same economic downturn.
It is believed that Mrs. Lam’s Policy Address is closely aligned with the Central Government’s arguments. Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly referred to a “two-cycle” development strategy, implying that China should use domestic demand and innovation as the main drivers of economic development, creating a domestic cycle of the economy while maintaining foreign markets and investors as the second engine of growth. He described the strategy as a security-critical mission to keep China growing in an era of global turmoil, and a new sense of geopolitical urgency that will increase pressure on officials to show him results.
Hong Kong current affairs commentator Rashow Liu told the station that China is facing an internal and external dilemma amid the U.S.-China trade war and international siege, so it has no choice but to consider “internal circulation” first, and thus needs Hong Kong’s input.
If China’s economy only relies on “internal circulation” now, it will definitely be a dead end, because China’s economic development has now needed the support of the tertiary sector, especially the external financial sector, and now the “internal circulation” needs the input of Hong Kong all the more! Will Hong Kong’s resources be used to build the country? This makes it all the more necessary for Hong Kong to serve as a respite, or a blood vessel for external circulation.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) recently adopted the “Recommendations on the formulation of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Vision 2035,” in which it is stated that reform and innovation will be the fundamental driving force to accelerate the formation of a new development pattern with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international double cycles promoting each other. The key point of the “dual cycle” strategy is to expand domestic demand, but not to close the door to the outside world, but to implement a wider, broader and deeper opening to the outside world and make better use of the international cycle to promote the domestic cycle.
Mrs. Lam said that over the past year, Hong Kong’s economy has been hit hard by social unrest, epidemics and the international political situation, and the labor market has also faced tremendous pressure. The government predicts that the economy will contract by 6.1% for the year.
The connectivity mechanism between Hong Kong and the Mainland will be expanded. Mrs. Lam said that the Central Government continues to support Hong Kong in consolidating and enhancing its position as an international financial center, and agreed to include Hong Kong-listed biotechnology companies, which are not yet profitable, and stocks on the Mainland’s Science and Technology Board in the selection of stocks for the “Connectivity” scheme. To consolidate and enhance Hong Kong’s status as an international aviation hub, she said, the Central Government supports Hong Kong Airport’s investment in Zhuhai Airport in accordance with the principle of marketization, and will also adopt “co-location of customs and immigration clearance” at the new Huanggang Port in Shenzhen.
In addition, the Policy Address introduced a number of measures to encourage and support Hong Kong young people to work and start their own businesses in the Greater Bay Area, including the launch of the “Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme”, which is expected to provide 2,000 places to encourage enterprises to hire Hong Kong university graduates to work in the Greater Bay Area.
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