Hong Kong urgently requires 'a change of paradigm'

This week, the Framework Agreement on Hong Kong/Guangdong Cooperation was signed in Beijing at a high level ceremony witnessed by Vice President Xi Jinping. This is a hallmark agreement laying out in specific detail Hong Kong's position in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. The most important point that sets many people's minds at ease is that it places Hong Kong as the "dragon head" of finance in this region. Without nearby challengers, Hong Kong can concentrate on consolidating its position with respect to Shanghai, leveraging all the resources in the whole Southern China.

Apart from this, frankly speaking, Hong Kong does not gain much from the cooperation. Hong Kong still plays a supporting role in the development of the region, as it has been doing for the past three decades. Few in Hong Kong would mind the city's playing this role, but unlike before, a now much weakened Hong Kong, itself plagued with economic ills, can only continue this noble mission with some substantial replenishment. Otherwise, it is liable to be the first to fall along the way.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yum-kuen long held the belief that just being a financial center could sustain Hong Kong's continued growth and development. Since we have not heard this idea for quite some time now, we can safely presume that he has given up this unrealistic illusion. It is also safe to assert that any cooperation framework with Hong Kong serving only as the financial center is not enough. Hong Kong cannot continue to prosper in that way, only as a financial center.

We cannot blame Guangdong for giving us only this much, because even if they want to give us more room, we simply do not know what we want, apart from being the financial center. We have never seriously pondered our positioning in the PRD region, and, for that matter, in the entire country. Again, our Chief Executive has gone on record with the assertion that Hong Kong as a free market economy does not require any positioning, a concept he claimed was applicable to a planned economy.

I don't blame our Chief Executive either, because this has been the official rationale of our government for many years. What is urgently required now is a change of paradigm. Hong Kong is no longer the almighty big brother who looks after everybody and does not need any help and cooperation. In the context of regional cooperation, all sides have to clearly articulate their own agendas, or else we will end up right back in the present predicament.

The author is a member of the Commission on Strategic Development

(HK Edition 04/09/2010 page2)