HZMB plays crucial role in regional integration

On Oct 23, President Xi Jinping announced the official opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge at its commencement ceremony. Vice-Premier Han Zheng also delivered a speech.

Addressing those involved in the massive project during the tour of the bridge, Xi emphasized the significance of the project: The fact that it holds many world titles embodies the nation’s innovative capability and ambition to create a world-class nation. The opening of the bridge has bolstered Chinese people’s selfconfidence.

Han Zheng’s speech at the ceremony focused on the significance of the bridge for the development of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. He highlighted that the commissioning of the bridge will facilitate personnel, economic and trade exchanges among the three places, which is conducive to advancing the GuangdongHong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development and enhancing the overall competitiveness of the Pearl River Delta. Hence the bridge carries substantial importance to integrating Hong Kong and Macao into the national development, as well as promoting mutually beneficial collaboration between the mainland and the two SARs.

This reminds me of Xi’s speech on the ceremony celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China and inaugurating the fifth-term SAR government on July 1, 2017, in which he said we must have the confidence to build up both the mainland which has a socialist system and Hong Kong which has a capitalist system. The Hong Kong-ZhuhaiMacao Bridge connects the socialist mainland and the two capitalist SARs, meaning that efforts to develop the two sides are not only interrelated but also mutually reinforcing.

Hitherto, many Hong Kong residents, including a few who hold an important position in the establishment, still emphasize that Hong Kong’s economic development is an issue that falls within the SAR’s high degree of autonomy under the “one country, two systems” arrangement. As the economic development between the mainland and HKSAR is becoming more integrated, they do not oppose the “collaborative development” between the two economies, but resist or object to “integrative development”. The problem is that if Hong Kong resists or objects to “integrative development”, then it will not be long before Hong Kong significantly lags behind in the construction of the Bay Area.

For instance, with the official opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, a “single checkpoint” arrangement is implemented between Macao and Zhuhai, whereas the two-checkpoint arrangement continues to be adopted between Hong Kong and Macao/ Zhuhai. One can easily tell whether this two separately located checkpoint arrangement is convenient or not. It is widely known that the European countries signed the Schengen Agreement. Countries that have joined the convention constitute the Schengen Area where internal border inspection between countries was abolished. Individuals can freely access any countries within the Schengen Area as long as they obtain a valid visa from any of the member states. The significance of the Schengen Agreement derives from the principle that free flow of goods, services and capital can only be achieved in conjunction with the free flow of people. Otherwise, it will not be considered as a single unified market. If Hong Kong still retains the current immigration checkpoints between the mainland and Macao, then it is impossible to integrate our city into the overall development of our country, and the creation of the Bay Area will suffer a major setback.

Therefore, Han mentioned at the opening ceremony that immigration and customs procedures should be further simplified to reduce the time for clearance. The Hong Kong-ZhuhaiMacao Bridge will be the means that facilitates synergistic innovation and integrated development between the three places.

So far, many Hong Kong residents, including a few who hold an important position in the establishment, have resisted or avoided talking about socialism with Chinese characteristics. They think that Hong Kong’s capitalist system has nothing to do with the mainland’s socialism under the “one country, two systems”. This viewpoint doesn’t match reality, and is wrong in both legal and political context. From the legal perspective, the HKSAR is established in accordance with the national Constitution; the Basic Law clearly stipulates that the HKSAR comes directly under the central government. From the political perspective, upholding the “one country, two systems” principle is one of the basic principles of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. In fact, Hong Kong and Macao have already been included in the nation’s five-year plans.

There is a famous quote in financial markets: There is no greater wisdom than riding on the prevalent trend. Standing on the majestic Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, we can take a look far into the Bay Area; the opening of the bridge reminds all quarters of Hong Kong society they have a role to play in promoting Hong Kong’s integration into the national development strategy.