Four months of wide-ranging discussion between government
officials, businesses and academics culminated on Monday in an
action agenda on Hong Kong that for the first time defines the
special administrative region's role in the nation's 11th Five-Year
Plan (2006-10).
The 207-point report calls for further integration of the two
economies and action to maximize Hong Kong's advantages as a global
financial, trade, service and logistics center.
The report is indeed timely.
It is widely believed the mainland will enter a new development
stage as its markets open more broadly to foreign investors
following the five-year anniversary of its World Trade Organization
membership. And international investors have verified that notion
through accelerated investment and a new round of mainland
fever.
As the mainland's fourth- largest trading partner and its
premier overseas investor, Hong Kong benefited greatly from the
mainland's economic miracle of the 1980s and 1990s. It surely
cannot afford to lose ground in the current decade.
But some local economists warn that the city could be
marginalized if it does not adapt and evolve. They point to the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which launched the world's first yuan
futures market, and Singapore, which last year began the world's
first A share-based futures index.
Why not Hong Kong, they ask, so near the mainland and boasting
respected financial markets?
The report addresses the question by placing Hong Kong's future
development in a national context and making recommendations on how
the city can maximize its leverage in China's international
market.
Among many other measures, the report advocates establishing a
futures market trading in mainland commodities, allowing
mainlanders to buy Hong Kong-traded shares and permitting local
banks to hold larger stakes in their mainland peers.
If the report is translated into action, Hong Kong could leap
over other markets to become a proxy for the mainland.
However, it would be a colossal mistake to equate economic
integration with "mainlandizing" Hong Kong.
On the contrary, Hong Kong should retain and improve its
internationalism and rule of law with utmost effort.
Indeed, Hong Kong's uniqueness compared to other Chinese cities
lies in its global vision and the open markets it has nurtured
through generations.
On Tuesday, the US Heritage Foundation rated Hong Kong as the
world's freest economy for 13 years in a row.
That is precisely the charm of Hong Kong.
(China Daily January 18, 2007)