Hong Kong has enjoyed remarkable success since its return to
China in 1997 and is moving towards an even brighter future, Lord
Mark Malloch-Brown, minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
in charge of Africa, Asia and the UN, told China.org.cn on
Thursday.
He said the UK is enthused about Hong Kong's remarkable success
since 1997. This is a real testament to the arrangements which
Britain and China negotiated before the handover, and to the people
of Hong Kong who have made the "one country, two systems" system
work so well.
"Things did not come to a grinding halt in 1997 and things
continued. Life went on," he told China.org.cn. "Hong Kong is now
stronger, more mature and knows more about its own future."
Hong Kong faced major challenges in the past decade, including
the Asian financial crisis, bird flu and SARS. "Every event has led
to economic or social changes in Hong Kong, but people there have
survived all these difficulties. Hong Kong has enhanced its
capacity to handle emergencies through these ups and downs," Mr.
Brown added.
As it becomes richer, Hong Kong has realized that economic
success is not the only worthy goal.? A civil-society movement
has come into being, agitating about everything from the polluted
air to preserving old buildings and to helping the poor.
He noted that the decade has increased Hong Kong's role as a
prosperous free port, a center of international finance, trade and
shipping, and a free and open economy.
Brown noted that the Chinese mainland's development has been
conducive to Hong Kong's economy, and that the special
administrative region has also acted as an investment platform for
the mainland, bringing its technology and managing draws to attract
international business.
He also admitted that competition between Hong Kong and the
mainland would be inevitable in some fields, but that 90 percent of
Hong Kong's economic power comes from the services industry.
"Hong Kong's development course will not be that of the
mainland, it will forever adjust itself according to the needs of
its market and development," he said. "The local financial market
has become more resistant to attacks by international speculators
since the financial crisis."
Mr. Brown told China.org.cn that Hong Kong is already one of the
21st Century's great cities. With its talented, optimistic and
industrious people, vibrant society, free media, and fair and
transparent systems of government and law, it is moving towards an
even greater future.
He noted that Britain wished prosperity to Hong Kong for the next
ten years and beyond, over which time Britain and Hong Kong will
forge even closer links.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Wang Ke, August 31, 2007)
