HK has brighter future with deepening integration

That the international community is paying greater attention to, and is more interested in, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of late is evident from the more than 17.1 million opinions related to Hong Kong that flooded the mainstream media, social media and online forums around the world from January to November, 2021, compared with the about 5 million during the same period last year.

With law and order, as well as economic activities gradually returning to normal in Hong Kong, positive and neutral opinions from foreign countries now account for 86 percent of the overall opinions on the SAR. The data were analyzed through the application of the machine learning model, and revealed that positive and neutral opinions about Hong Kong were as high as 87 percent in the United States, and 86 percent in such major European Union countries as Germany, France and Italy.

These figures show that the restoration of law and order in Hong Kong after the implementation of the National Security Law last year has been widely welcomed by the outside world. It also explains why some of its economic data have hit record highs.

In the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong's merchandise trade reached a record high of $953 billion, up 26.9 percent year-on-year. According to the results of a survey conducted by InvestHK and the Census and Statistics Department, the number of Hong Kong companies with parent companies based overseas or on the Chinese mainland has reached 9,049, a record high and 10 percent more than in 2017. And the number of start-ups in Hong Kong was 3,755, also a record high.

In terms of foreign direct investment, Hong Kong was the recipient of the fourth-largest amount of investment ($1.88 trillion) in 2020, behind only the United States, the United Kingdom and the mainland, and the seventh-largest source of outbound investment ($1.95 trillion).

These statistics show that due to its excellent business environment Hong Kong has become an ideal place for companies to set up or expand their businesses. Despite facing social and economic challenges over the past two years, especially in 2019 when violent demonstrators held the city to ransom, Hong Kong has maintained its unique advantages and still draws investors and businesses from foreign countries and the mainland.

The implementation of the National Security Law and the new, improved electoral system－under which the Legislative Council election was held on Sunday－has restored social order and stabilized the political environment in Hong Kong. This, along with the historic opportunities offered by the mainland's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) including the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Hengqin and Qianhai reform programs, will unleash Hong Kong's full development potential.

An ever-improving business environment will likely draw more international investors to the SAR, because they attach importance to not only social and political stability but also getting good returns when making investment decisions. More important, for international investors, the Hong Kong market is a gateway to the mainland, and investing in mainland enterprises listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is equivalent to investing on the mainland and sharing the huge dividends of its steady economic development.

In short, as an international financial, commercial and logistics hub, Hong Kong should take advantage of the huge opportunities offered by the mainland's 14th Five-Year Plan, "dual circulation" development paradigm and Greater Bay Area development program to further integrate with the mainland and share the mainland's development dividends.

By doing so, Hong Kong will also instill greater confidence into international investors about the future business environment and attract more investors to the city.

The author is chairman of Guangzhou-based China Silk Road iValley Research Institute. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.