Cementing Bonds
Greater integration with mainland holds promise for Hong Kong
After Hong Kong returned to the motherland in 1997, the Chik family in Zhejiang Province in east China decided to shift their garments business from Thailand to the new special administrative region (SAR) and settle down there due to the huge room for development they saw there.
Their daughter Momo was a child at that time. Today, she is a 30-year-old financial professional in Hong Kong who has roots both on the mainland and in the SAR.
Last year, she was stunned by the protracted violent protests in Hong Kong, which left her wondering what could have caused the misunderstandings. “I’ve been thinking how they will end after hurting Hong Kong greatly and putting people in jeopardy,” she said.
Mutual benefits
As a center of international trade and commerce, logistics, shipping, finance and professional services, Hong Kong has become an important bridge connecting the Chinese mainland and world markets.
Since the late 1970s, Hong Kong’s percapita GDP in dollar terms has increased 11 times, surpassing Germany, the UK and Japan. According to the General Administration of Customs of China, the mainland’s trade in goods has increased by 198 times in value since then while Hong Kong’s exports have jumped 71 times.
According to Tung Chee- hwa, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the top political advisory body, and the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR, the SAR has taken an active part in China’s reform and opening up, making significant contributions. At the same time, the rapid development of the country as a whole has also been a boon for it.
Chik is a beneficiary of Hong Kong’s return. DL Holdings (China), the company where she works, was founded by a couple from the mainland. According to Victor Ai, Co-chairman of the company, a financial services platform, local young people account for half of its employees.
Chik has also benefited from an admission scheme on the mainland designed specifically to recruit students from overseas and from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. She passed the recruitment exam and got the chance to study in a university in Beijing.
Hong Kong’s return has stimulated capital and talent flows between the mainland and the SAR. Ai was attracted by Hong Kong’s developed financial system and cultural environment. He has been working there for almost three years.
He came through the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP), which aims to attract talents from the mainland to enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness. Each year, a large number of people like Ai come to live and work in Hong Kong through the ASMTP and other talent schemes such as the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme and the Technology Talent Admission Scheme. In 2018-19, about 30,000 people came through the ASMTP.
When the financial crisis that rattled Asia in 1997 and the severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003 inflicted heavy losses on Hong Kong’s economy, the Central Government took measures to help Hong Kong tide over the difficulties. In 2003, the Central Government and the
Hong Kong SAR Government signed the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, a free trade agreement that gave businesses in Hong Kong greater access to the huge mainland market and brought new opportunities for mainland enterprises to reach out to the global market through the SAR.
The Central Government has adopted
Bay Area, which encompasses nine cities on the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, was signed. This integrated development plan is playing a crucial role in sustaining Hong Kong’s progress.
Communication gap