Hong Kong’s leaders should tell its youth that the future lies in embracing the mainland
Regina Ip says the frustration of Hong Kong’s youth is easy to understand – they face harder conditions than their parents did. The answer, though, is to embrace connectivity with the mainland, rather than to resent mainlanders for their success
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The economic disparity is aggravated by the renaissance of China after four decades of sweat and toil on a much grander scale. While Hong Kong still leads the nation in international convergence, rule of law and sophistication of its financial and professional services, many Chinese cities have overtaken Hong Kong in the speed and quality of growth as well as innovation and use of technology. As mainland China’s influence grows, Hong Kong’s well-being is increasingly dependent on the mainland’s economic fortune and goodwill.
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Today’s young people need to adjust to a new competitive environment, just as their parents did when Hong Kong rose from post-war devastation. Hong Kong’s open economy means that it cannot be insulated from competition from the mainland, even in areas where Hong Kong excels.
To close the achievement gap, the government must act to cure the woes besetting our educating system – the blind pursuit of quantitative expansion at the expense of quality, the curriculum changes which have encouraged loose thinking and mediocrity, and the neglect of cultivation of basic civic values of mutual respect, courtesy and tolerance. While it is necessary to reduce unnecessary pressures bred by excessive testing, our leaders need to reiterate the importance of raising the bar in everything we do.
Hong Kong also needs to own up to the reality that scale matters, and connectivity with the mainland matters. Our forebears were wise enough to embrace free trade so that we can leverage the world markets. While Hong Kong continues to benefit from trade with the rest of the world, there is no denying that the biggest market at its doorstep is that of mainland China.
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The hardest part is the liberation of hearts and minds to embrace the new opportunities. Connecting hearts and minds would be harder than building infrastructure, but that should be our unmistakable priority.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is a lawmaker and chairwoman of the New People’s Party