City Beat | Can Hong Kong be a ‘super moneymaker’ to remain distinct from other Chinese cities?
- Identifying Hong Kong’s role and making it actually happen are two different things, especially amid wider geopolitical and economic uncertainties
“Will Beijing one day give up Hong Kong and replace it with Shanghai or any other major Chinese city?”
This was the question raised during a recent gathering with a group of Hong Kong-based foreign guests – neither unexpected nor surprising, but a question that is asked more frequently these days.
The worry remains. Is Hong Kong losing its edge? How committed is Beijing to keeping its promise to maintain the “one country, two systems” policy of governing this city?
However, the flip side of the coin poses a counter-question: why should Hong Kong be more special than the rest of the country? And what should Hong Kong do to convince Beijing that it must be the case?
My answer to the question raised at the gathering was, “I don’t think Beijing has such an intention because it will do no good to either side.”
I believe that realistically, no other city in China can simply replace Hong Kong because of the two-systems arrangement. But the elephant in the room is the matter of how Hong Kong can justify that it deserves this special status.
