In recent years, the central government has placed high hopes on Hong Kong's development, particularly in terms of deepening international cooperation and promoting economic prosperity. However, can the Hong Kong SAR government truly shed its past image as a "freeloader," demonstrate a proactive and effective approach to governance, and earnestly respond to the central government's expectations of deepening international cooperation?
In his Government Work Report this year, Premier Li Qiang mentioned for the first time that Hong Kong must "continue to deepen international exchanges and cooperation," and reiterated that Hong Kong must accelerate its integration into the overall national development and make greater contributions to the country's high-quality development. Clearly, this prominent statement reflects Beijing's dissatisfaction with Hong Kong's positioning in recent years. Prior to this, the central government had repeatedly emphasized the need for Hong Kong to maintain its international presence, and Xia Baolong, Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, had also reminded us that the golden signboard of internationalization must not fade.
This time, the central leadership took advantage of the annual National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference meetings to reiterate Hong Kong's role in connecting with the world in a more explicit way. The repeated emphasis of central officials on this message shows that they attach great importance to it. This reflects that the central leadership believes that Hong Kong still has room for improvement in this regard and needs to increase reforms. These goals require the Hong Kong government to have the determination to take the initiative to explore and actively reform, rather than just relying on the policy dividends provided by the central government.
Compared with mainland cities, Hong Kong still maintains a certain degree of internationalization, but let us ask ourselves if this advantage can really be maintained?
