Economic Development

Hong Kong has always been a bastion of neoliberalism. In order to create a level playing field, the government rarely actively intervenes in the market. The government has locked fiscal expenditure at 20% of GDP. Even though the expenditure has increased slightly in recent years and has slightly broken this golden rule, it still adheres to the "big market, small government" principle. Constrained by governance philosophy and financial resources, Hong Kong has never had a strong industrial policy and can only passively expect the business community to respond to the government's vision. Li Jiachao issued his first "Policy Address" to lead the industrial layout and proactively attract investment, reflecting that the new government will break the inertia of "active non-intervention".

Immigration is an eternal topic among Hong Kong people. A recent poll found that one in four people planned to immigrate, a slight increase from half a year ago. Coincidentally, Democratic Thought also released a poll last month, and the willingness to immigrate dropped significantly compared to half a year ago. The two surveys rose and the other fell. Many people asked the author how to interpret it. What is even more curious is who is more accurate?

The Beijing Winter Olympics is more about politics than sports, which is a disgrace to the scenery. This is a great power competition after the decoupling of China and the United States. It is in the same world as Japan and Japan, and international relations have changed several times. Officials continue to play the human rights card. The West criticizes China for producing Xinjiang cotton suspected of forced labor, setting up so-called re-education camps for the Uyghurs, and suppressing freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and democratic space in Hong Kong. The public is playing the environmental card and is concerned about the water and electricity consumption of artificial snow and the risk of injury to athletes. The ski jumping platform rebuilt on the site of an industrial park was supposed to be a model of frugality in running the Olympics, but it was scorned as a smoky nuclear power plant. Peng Shuai’s low-key appearance in the auditorium helped Beijing dismantle bombs and dismantle the restrictions in the international spotlight.

Under the order of "common prosperity", large companies enthusiastically donated money and were jokingly called "protection fees." Shared prosperity is originally a policy of the Mainland and has nothing to do with Hong Kong. However, according to the stock market news, hundreds of millions of Chinese listed companies have lost their market value, and Hong Kong businessmen doing business in the Mainland are also confused and frightened. The timing coincides with vigorous regulatory actions, as antitrust and preventing the disorderly expansion of capital have been listed as key tasks since last year. Internet companies received hefty fines, chaos in the fandom and bad actors were punished, and the double-cut policy cracked down on the tutoring industry, leading people to mistakenly equate common prosperity with looting private projects.

The epidemic has upended the order of our lives and made us reflect on everything around us. The Hong Kong Arts Festival staged the drama "The Plague", adapted from the novel by Camus, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, and it is a work that responds to the occasion. The original work depicts the life of the plague, including residents who sing and sing every night, fanatics who take advantage of the fire, priests who regard disasters as divine punishment, and heroes who organize folk medical teams. Death has become a daily routine, and lockdown means loneliness, exile and helplessness. By the time the epidemic port reopens, the surviving protagonist has lost his wife and friends. He has also experienced the reality and cruelty of human nature, and realizes that the plague in the human heart is more difficult to eradicate than the virus. Only courage can overcome despair. The port city described by Camus is somewhat similar to Hong Kong. After the epidemic subsides, will we feel the same loss?

The struggle between China and the West is turbulent. The Five Eyes Alliance has adjusted its policy towards Hong Kong, focusing on attacking people's hearts. It has relaxed immigration measures and accelerated the dispersal of Hong Kong people to foreign lands. First, there is the new BNO visa in the UK. Although it has welfare restrictions, it is enough to pave the way for naturalization. Canada is recruiting highly educated Hong Kong people, while Australia is retaining local graduates and high-skilled workers. Even though the epidemic makes it difficult to travel far away, the doors of many countries have been opened to high-quality immigrants. The wave of resignations in the professional sector is rampant. It is not difficult for early-career young people to leave, wearing square hats and holding BNOs in their hands. This makes people worry that Hong Kong is gradually entering the dusk.

When Sino-US relations fell to a freezing point, the ten ASEAN countries and the five countries of China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand signed RCEP, reaching the world's largest trade agreement. Among Hong Kong's top ten trading partners, RCEP members account for seven. In order to avoid being marginalized, we must strive to join. Trade agreements are like technical documents, bitter and difficult to understand. It is normal for this economic headline to be popular among the public and the public. Closer business ties and more extensive personnel exchanges will slowly emerge in the future, but those who see doubts are protesting and hope to correct them.