Hong Kong businesses should seek first-mover advantage in mainland China as ‘much has happened’ since Covid-19 pandemic emerged, former city leader CY Leung says
- Former chief executive tells Redefining Hong Kong seminar organised by the Post that communication gap on opportunities the biggest challenge to cooperation
- While it cannot dictate full border reopening, Hong Kong should focus on boosting Covid-19 vaccination rates and containing infections, Leung adds
Hong Kong businesses should seek first-mover advantage in mainland China, a former city leader has said, adding that while the global financial hub cannot dictate when its border with the rest of the country can reopen, it should focus on boosting its Covid-19 vaccination rate and containing the virus.
Leung Chun-ying, now a vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the nation’s top advisory body, told the Redefining Hong Kong seminar organised by the Post on Thursday that the city should be first to embrace opportunities on the mainland when the pandemic subsided.
Panellists at the seminar on the Greater Bay Area also shed some light on the future of the government’s Northern Metropolis technology-cum-residential project and tourism, technology and regional trade policies.
Leung noted that since close contact between Hong Kong and the mainland had been suspended for nearly three years amid the pandemic, “much has happened on the other side of the Shenzhen River”.
“We have to catch up … Getting ahead of the curve means getting first-mover advantage,” the former chief executive said. “I can see exponential growth in Guangdong-Hong Kong business cooperation, and now is the time to move.”
Leung also alluded to communication gaps on opportunities across the border.
“Last year, I spent 106 days on the mainland. Often at places that I visit, I say: ‘I didn’t know you have had this policy’ … The replies were ‘Mr Leung, we didn’t know that you didn’t know, it has been on our website’,” he said.
