Hong Kong pushes for looser
border By Olivia Chung
HONG KONG - Ambitious to become the Asian
version of Western metropolises such as Greater
London and New York, the Hong Kong government is
asking Beijing to ease travel restrictions to the
city for the 2-million-plus permanent residents in
neighboring mainland Shenzhen.
Shenzhen,
in the southernmost region of southern China's
Guangdong province, is Hong Kong's nearest
geographic neighbor, separated at the nearest
point by land and at other points by the Shenzhen
River and the South China Sea. Tens of
thousands of people travel
back and forth across the three major
Shenzhen-Hong Kong border checkpoints daily, most
via train, bus and ferry for work, school and
pleasure. Shenzhen's unofficial population is 11
million, though only about 2 million hold official
residence permits.
However, Hong Kong and
Shenzhen are further apart socially and
politically because of their vastly different
systems - capitalism in Hong Kong, where a free
press also contributes to a more unfettered
atmosphere; and socialism in Shenzhen, where
political and media expressions are more tightly
controlled. Both were once small fishing villages
- although Hong Kong's rise from its humble
beginnings post-dates Shenzhen's by more than a
century.
In 1979, when Hong Kong was
already a major global manufacturing center,
Shenzhen got its chance as Deng Xiaoping anointed
it as China's first special economic zone (SEZ).
Since then, Hong Kong has seen its manufacturing
base move across the border to Shenzhen, and
increasing numbers of Hong Kong people have
followed for real-estate and business investments
and lower-priced pleasures such as shopping, spas
and nightclubs.
Larger numbers of Shenzhen
residents also commute back and forth, though
numbers swell dramatically during the mainland's
three week-long holidays: Spring Festival/Lunar
New Year, National Day in October, and the May
International Labor Day holiday, when mainland
tour groups flock to Hong Kong for its theme parks
- Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland - and for
shopping binges in the city's numerous upscale
malls.
Shenzhen has successfully developed
its high-technology sector, with Shenzhen-based
Huawei Technologies being the country's largest
manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and
ZTE Corp China's biggest publicly listed
telephone-equipment maker. Meanwhile, Hong Kong
has successfully positioned itself as a financial
and commercial center, and has listed a large
number of mainland companies on its stock
exchange.
A decade ago, Shenzhen's economy
was a tenth of Hong Kong's. In 2006, it was almost
half of Hong Kong's, and in the first half of this
year, Shenzhen's economy grew by 13.2% year on
year. With its double-digit annual economic
growth, it's soon going to close the gap.
With the increasing exchange of people and
goods, Shenzhen took the first initiatives to
satisfy the rising cross-border demand. In 1997,
the Shenzhen government proposed keeping the
border checkpoints open 24 hours to speed the flow
of people and goods, but the idea was initially
snubbed by the Hong Kong government, which later
reconsidered and several years later opened one
border checkpoint for 24-hour service.
During the first five years after its
handover from Britain to China in 1997, because of
the substantial social and income differences,
Hong Kong was not eager to get much closer to the
mainland.
Yeung Yue-man, director of the
Chinese University of Hong Kong's Institute of
Asia-Pacific Studies, said at that time that the
Hong Kong government was apathetic because of its
vastly different colonial background and mindset,
and it did not realize the risk of being
commercially marginalized until China's accession
to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.
"When China joined the WTO ... Hong Kong
began to realize the risk that while it promoted
itself as China's window to the world, the reality
was that it was not absolutely necessary to
China's economic life," Yeung said.
The
Closer Economic Partnership Agreement, a
free-trade pact between Hong Kong and the
mainland, was signed in 2004 and further bound the
two cities.
At present, mainland travel
laws require individual Shenzhen residents wishing
to travel to Hong Kong to apply for a week-long
pass. The passes are inexpensive, 20 yuan
(US$2.65), and take about a week for approval.
Shenzhen residents may apply for as many passes
annually as they want.
If the pass system
is scrapped, Hong Kong's proposal would allow
Shenzhen residents to use electronic identity
cards to cross the border. Hong Kong residents
going to Shenzhen now use a similar system with
their Hong King IDs. Currently, Shenzhen residents
have no electronic IDs, though there is a city
government proposal to issue them in October. It
has not been finalized yet.
Although
Shenzhen residents entering in this way would not
be allowed to work in Hong Kong, the pass-free
proposal might encourage them to apply to work in
the city under the Admission Scheme for Mainland
Talents and Professionals, also known as the
Quality Migrant Admission Scheme. The plan has
been publicized heavily in Hong Kong, and to a
lesser extent in Shenzhen, but the only notable
person publicly admitted under it to date has been
mainland classical pianist Lang Lang. Less
celebrated and well-known individuals have
apparently not been as fortunate yet.
Yeung said the scheme would encourage the
exchange of talent between the two cities and the
realization of the "one metropolis, two systems"
idea. "The proposed scheme could provide Hong Kong
with talent from the mainland, which is crucial to
help the city to catch up with the world's leading
financial centers like New York and London," he
said.
Hong Kong and Shenzhen combined have
a population of close to 20 million, with a
combined economic base and total import and export
trade that is the largest in Asia. Occupying more
than 3,000 square kilometers, the combined area of
the two cities is bigger than London and New York,
with its freight-handling capacity the biggest in
the world.
Le Zheng, director of the
Shenzhen Academy of Social Sciences, estimated
that the scheme could attract 300,000 Shenzhen
residents for frequent commutes. However, some
Hong Kong labor unions said the proposal would
increase the number of illegal workers in Hong
Kong, where the wage levels are still
significantly higher, even for illegal labor.
Yeung was also cautious about the proposal
and pointed to a recently opened highway bridge
corridor between the two cities as an example. The
Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor, which cost
Hong Kong HK$2.3 billion (US$294 million) and the
mainland HK$1 billion, was officially opened on
the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong handover,
this July 1, by Chinese President Hu Jintao amid
much fanfare. However, the enormous bridge has
been virtually empty since, with few trucks and
fewer private automobiles using it daily. It's a
stark contrast to the only other highway border,
where commercial trucks routinely wait lined up
for hours to cross.
"The bridge reaches
the western part of Shenzhen's Nanshen district,
near Shekou, and is far from the town's major
commercial district, Futian," Yeung said. "What
the government could do now is use the existing
permit system to encourage more trucks to use the
new bridge."
Olivia Chung is a
senior Asia Times Online reporter.
(Copyright 2007 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
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