Hong Kong's destiny - a glass more than half full

Andrew Sheng argues that city's future lies with mainland integration and the B&R - grasp it or lose it, the task is ours alone

Twenty years after the return of Hong Kong to China, the question is less of the past than of the future. In my book, Hong Kong's return was a success but whether the next 20 years will be better or worse will depend mostly on Hong Kong people thinking through their own role within the larger family of China.

The Chinese term for a nation is state plus family - guojia. The nation is a state of families, joined for better or worse. Hong Kong's return on July 1, 1997 was a return to the Chinese family after the humiliating cession to Britain under duress after the loss of the Opium War in 1842. The family parents cannot forget that humiliation but those born under colonial rule and educated under the British system had little appreciation how the family was separated.

Knowing how difficult it was to reunify the family, Deng Xiaoping conceived the idea of "one country, two systems", allowing 50 years of a high degree of autonomy to Hong Kong under a special administrative region, hoping that during this period the family would become closer, with the Chinese mainland catching up both economically and in living standards.

Two decades later, the economic gaps have closed considerably, with many in mainland tier-one cities already enjoying standards of living very close to those enjoyed in Hong Kong. But many mainlanders working in Hong Kong also appreciate that Hong Kong has numerous features that are not easy for mainland cities to attain. Doing business in Hong Kong is very easy, as is living with access to global information, great hospital care, education and easily the widest variety of Chinese and international cuisine one can get anywhere, not to mention the diversity of culture one can experience in such a compact place.

As someone who has lived and worked in Hong Kong and witnessed unforgettably the transition on July 1, 1997, I can say that Hong Kong citizens enjoy freedoms that are rarely matched in almost any city in the world. There are wonderful parks and countryside that are stunningly beautiful, literally minutes away from the most crowded urban areas in the world. One can have literally 10 successful business meetings a day, plus working breakfast, lunch and dinners, all within walking distance of the Central area. Despite sporadic complaints, everything works from the minute you land at Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok.

Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy once said all happy families are happy for the same reason, but are unhappy for different reasons. There are some who are unhappy but many problems in Hong Kong are solvable save for internal disagreements. Hong Kong does not lack the financial resources, knowledge, expertise and human talent. She only lacks the political experience that was lost under colonial administration - that politics is the art of the compromise. There is a saying that in families, all success is relative - the more success, the more relatives. The flip side of this is that no right is absolute, and therefore what one seeks, one must have to give and take. Rights come with responsibilities, including responsibility to your family, your community and your nation.

There are 30 years left of the "one country, two systems" mandate and no city can afford to remain unchanged over this period of time. Hong Kong is probably one of the most fortunate of cities, by geography, timing and people. She is located in the heart of the fastest growing region in the world, expanding in a time when China and the rest of East Asia are regaining their status in history as civilizational equals, and her people lack no educational facility, access to markets, information and talent flow.

Former chief executive Leung Chun-ying argued that Hong Kong's real strength and way forward is to become the "super-connector" for China and Asia, because the Belt and Road Initiative will bring fresh projects, funds and opportunities for the region.

What the Belt and Road Initiative envisages is that China will use her experience in building domestic infrastructure to help her trading partners in opening up infrastructure in the land and maritime silk roads. For Asia to entrench her growth trajectory, infrastructure is badly needed not only within nations but also between nations - sorting out transport, utilities and climate change challenges.

Few doubt that such demand for infrastructure is badly needed, nor the willingness of China to supply the finance and expertise to build such infrastructure. But the devil of implementation is in the details. Chinese enterprises going out are not familiar with local cultures, whereas local suppliers, contractors and beneficiaries of such projects do not understand how Chinese enterprises work.

For Hong Kong to act as a "super-connector", she must build the superior skills and knowledge that goes beyond Hong Kong's traditional strength as a middleman in the region, much of it from family ties in the overseas Chinese diaspora. Many of the Silk Road countries, such as those in Central Asia, are outside the normal purview of Hong Kong's business community.

To succeed as a super-connector, Hong Kong must therefore set up her own "infrastructure for infrastructure", creating deep knowledge of the Belt and Road region that mainland companies, banks and officials badly need. In such an official-driven policy, the old free-market philosophy will not work. The Hong Kong community must invest in people, talent and research institutes that have constant contact with the region, in all aspects of culture, law and regulations and business practices.

Hong Kong has emerged from a fishing community to a world-class entrepot, a window for the re-emergence of China. On her return, her destiny is to play a larger role on the Chinese stage, within a global drama of change. Within the larger family, how she plays it will be mostly up to Hong Kong people themselves. If they see the future as a glass more than half full, the family will do better. If they only look to the past and see it as half empty, then a lesser future cannot be blamed on anyone else.

The ancient classic lesson remains valid: Know yourself, know your own destiny.

(HK Edition 07/02/2017 page7)