Smartest way forward

Speaking at a spring reception-cum-luncheon on Friday, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying once again emphasized that the relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland is far more active and socially integrated than simply "Two Systems" within the same country. Widespread cooperation and collaboration is long-entrenched on both sides of the border.

In the decades since the country initiated the policy of economic reform, Hong Kong and the mainland have forged close, interdependent and mutually beneficial ties. Hong Kong's business community has moved northward at an unprecedented scale, while the mainland has proved to be a bonanza for vibrant and sustainable growth within the SAR. This trend appears to have accelerated ever since Hong Kong's reunification with the motherland, especially after the central government unveiled a basket of supportive and preferential measures for the city, which include the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement signed in 2003, a more significant role of Hong Kong in the nation's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), and the 36 measures to boost the city's overall development announced by Vice-Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to the city.

As a result of increasingly complex social and economic integration, Hongkongers permanently working in the mainland's three major cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, have reached a record number of 370,000, accounting for one-tenth of Hong Kong's total workforce, which mirrors the depth and scope of the ties on both sides.

However, we must realize, in a world of seemingly borderless trade and social activities, it is inevitable that frictions and conflicts will arise during the integration process. We need to be open-minded. We need to be confident that the government can solve problems like parallel trading, the influx of pregnant mainland women, and so on.

We all know that economic development is of upmost importance to Hong Kong. The smartest way forward for Hong Kong is embracing the outside world, with the strong backing and blessing of the motherland, to access enormous opportunities in the globalized market. Only by achieving a higher, robust economic growth rate can we better tackle thorny and pressing livelihood issues like housing, poverty alleviation, ageing population and pollution, etc. In the process, we will further cement our city's status as a global financial hub and Asia's world city.

(HK Edition 02/23/2013 page1)