Opinion / Liang Hongfu
Hong Kong must remain pragmatic
By Liang Hongfoo (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-05-23 05:40
Hong Kong people have always been noted for their pragmatism. This means
they have a keen sense of striking the balance between maximum results
and minimum costs.
Such an attribute has prevailed throughout Hong Kong society. And it has
proved to be most effective when it comes to economic integration with
the mainland.
We can take comfort from the fact that Hong Kong has never built any
"white-elephant" monstrosities in a bid to glorify its economic
achievements. There was never a need for Hong Kong people to boost their
ego by building a structure that they can claim to be the tallest in the
region or, better still, the world.
Indeed, Hong Kong does not have the fanciest or fastest train, but its
public transportation system is clean and efficient. Hong Kong has never
claimed to be the region's high-tech capital, but its product design
capability is streets ahead of many of its neighbours.
Hong Kong has long been derided as a cultural desert where art is
treasured only for its resale value. And yet, Hong Kong-produced movies,
television dramas and pop music have influenced Asian pop culture for
decades.
Hong Kong's pragmatism can best be summed up by a well-reported quote
from a former managing director of Hong Kong Land, the owner of nearly
all the prime office buildings in the centre of the business district.
When reporters questioned the rather controversial design of the
company's newly completed office building, the unflappable executive
replied: "The best designed building is the one that's fully occupied."
This was the same result-focused pragmatic approach that has enabled Hong
Kong to take full advantage of the mainland's economic reform and opening
in order to complete its transformation from a struggling low-cost
manufacturing base to an international financial centre in just 25 years.
In this process, Hong Kong contributed greatly to the rapid
industrialization of the entire Pearl River Delta region, where thousands
of factories, employing millions of workers, are either owned by, or
manufacture under contract for, Hong Kong exporters.
During all that time, Hong Kong has never set itself up to compete with
any city on the mainland. Neither has it gloated over the contributions
it has made to the development of the mainland economy. That's because
most Hong Kong people know deep down that businesses were willing to
invest heavily on the mainland because they expected a return that could
more than justify the risks they must take.
It is easy to understand why Hong Kong must maintain an adequate
infrastructure so that it can continue to service the needs and
requirements of the mainland's economic development. But the key word to
keep in mind here is "adequate," which is ultimately determined by cost
effectiveness and not by degree of grandeur in comparison to those on the
mainland.
But this traditional sense of pragmatism is under attack from some
short-sighted and shallow-minded politicians who profess the perverted
view that Hong Kong must do everything comparable to the mainland or risk
falling behind. Their objections to the proposal to open a second rail
link to Shenzhen are based on the fact that speed of the train needs to
be reduced because it will be sharing the same tracks with local trains.
Their common argument is that the speed of the train in the Hong Kong
segment must not be slower than that in the mainland segment. And that's
that. These chest-thumping politicians have reduced an important decision
on infrastructure development to a trivial game of one-upmanship. To
them, no practical reason is needed to justify spending hundreds of
millions of dollars to build a new railway track so that trains can
maintain the same speed in the much shorter leg of the journey in Hong
Kong as that on the mainland.
This is simply madness. At a time when Hong Kong's relevance to the
mainland's economic development has been brought into question, it is all
the more important for Hong Kong people to remember and cherish the
fundamental values on which its unique social and economic structure is
built.
Hong Kong must not engage in senseless competition with Guangzhou to be
the so-called "dragon head" of the Pearl River Delta region, nor should
it be obsessed with the threat from Shanghai as a rising financial
centre. If Hong Kong people can continue to take a pragmatic approach to
economic integration with the mainland, they have nothing to fear.
Email: jamesleung@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 05/23/2006 page4)
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