President Xi Jinping on Aug 24 delivered a keynote speech at a symposium of socioeconomic experts. In the speech he noted that the 14th Five-Year plan, which runs through 2021-25, will be a transitional period in which the nation reaches the first of its two “centennial goals” — fully building up a reasonably well-to-do society by the time the Communist Party of China celebrates its 100th anniversary on July 1, 2021. It was accomplished ahead of schedule last year, when the country’s per capita GDP topped $10,000. Now China is working toward achieving the other “centennial goal”: becoming a strong and fully developed socialist country by the time the People’s Republic of China celebrates her 100th anniversary on Oct 1, 2049. China is entering a new development stage, he concluded.
As the nation proceeds in the new development stage, she will no doubt run into many obstacles created by hostile external forces and therefore must be prepared to handle any challenge along the way and cancel whatever risks as they emerge. On the other hand, there will be internal difficulties and challenges, too, which the nation must overcome while maintaining strong growth by all means necessary. China has what it takes to continue all-round development in the new development stage.
President Xi said the new development stage requires a matching economic development strategy, which was agreed upon by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in May this year and is called open “dual circulation”, with the domestic market as the main driving force but also allowing domestic and foreign markets to complement and boost each other. He said the changing external environment and the country’s development means and strengths in recent years have been accompanied by the apparent weakening of the international circulation of both the market and resources; while the potential of domestic demand has been released by leaps and bounds. As the domestic circulation gains momentum, it inevitably makes up for the waning international (external) circulation.
The country’s economic circulation driven mainly by the domestic market will remain the dominant trend in the years to come, with the potential of domestic demand as the main growth engine increasingly shining through, he added. We will maintain the strategic bearing of continuous supply-side structural reform, which will be focused on expanding domestic demand, so that production, distribution, (capital) circulation and consumption will rely increasingly on the domestic market and in turn elevate the adaptability of the supply system to the growing domestic demand, thus taking the dynamic balance between demand driving supply and supply creating demand to another level. He also made it clear that the new development pattern is definitely not closed domestic circulation only. It is an open “dual circulation” involving both the domestic and international markets.
I earnestly hope that the HKSAR makes concerted efforts in building up an effective long-term anti-epidemic mechanism by overcoming all political obstacles along the way. It is the only way for Hong Kong to pull its economy out of recession and join the nation’s new development stage
This is clearly a situation of polar opposites — the mainland has built up a generally effective mechanism for the prevention and containment of COVID-19 and been able to resume economic activities steadily after months of lockdown; whereas the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is still fighting the third wave of infections, which pushes the local economy into a worsening recession.
According to the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, regional development among the nine cities in Guangdong, the HKSAR and Macao SAR should become more coordinated, and a city cluster which has a reasonable division of labor, complementary functions and coordinated development should basically be established by 2022. The yearlong “black revolution” robbed Hong Kong of more than a year of precious time. The COVID-19 pandemic has stolen six months and counting. In comparison, Macao has been much less affected than Hong Kong and therefore has been ahead of the latter in forming a set of common rules with the nine Bay Area cities in neighboring Guangdong, as demonstrated by the newly opened Hengqin checkpoint between Macao and the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone.
The anti-mainland and anti-CPC political forces want to separate Hong Kong from the nation so much that they would do anything to drag the SAR down behind Guangdong and Macao in the Bay Area development. For example, some local residents have subscribed to separatist scaremongering over the voluntary universal community testing program, which is assisted by a team of specialists from the mainland and paid for by the central government, and joined protests against the program. That shows how easy it is for some Hong Kong residents to be hoodwinked by separatist forces into obstructing the city’s involvement in the nation’s development strategy.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor recently started writing the 2020 Policy Address. She said in an interview earlier that she will address political impasse in this year’s Policy Address, indicating the SAR government will focus on clearing up confusion and righting wrongs in order to bring the exercise of “one country, two systems” back on the right track. I earnestly hope that the HKSAR makes concerted efforts in building up an effective long-term anti-epidemic mechanism by overcoming all political obstacles along the way. It is the only way for Hong Kong to pull its economy out of recession and join the nation’s new development stage.
It won’t be easy for Lam to integrate my humble suggestion into her action plans, as it will encounter many difficulties in practice for sure. Restrictive factors come in many shapes and forms, ranging from the capitalist system to sociopolitical confusion and the self-defeating “big market and small government” doctrine. All of them are in the government’s way toward winning the battle against COVID-19, which requires scientific knowledge and discipline in equal measure but found lacking in Hong Kong, admit it or not. There are also fiscal and financial restraints to contend with. The executive-led HKSAR government must be willing and prepared to surmount any hurdle in its way to achieve speedy recovery of the economy and a better future as an integral part of the Bay Area development program.
The author is a senior research fellow of China Everbright Holdings.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
