Opinion | Hong Kong must reopen its international border, to fulfil its destiny as China’s global city
- President Xi Jinping emphasised Hong Kong’s international status in an important speech on July 1
- With more knowledge now of Covid-19 and how to treat it, leading cities around the world have reopened to visitors. Hong Kong needs to catch up, and quickly
Indeed, he mentioned one country, two systems 20 times in the speech. He also reaffirmed that the central government “fully supports Hong Kong in its effort to maintain its distinctive status and edges, to improve its presence as an international financial, shipping and trading centre, to keep its business environment free, open and regulated, and to maintain the common law, so as to expand and facilitate its exchanges with the world”.
Clearly, the institutions that have made our city great and enriched our country are here to stay. For many international investors, this should come as an affirmative signal for Hong Kong’s future.
It is clear that Hong Kong will continue to be an important platform for China’s trade and interaction with the international community. For the city to fulfil its function, maintaining free flows of people, capital and goods is of paramount importance.
Looking at the statistics, in 2019, before the pandemic, foreign visitor inflow into mainland China was around 31.88 million; meanwhile, 155 million Chinese visited other markets.
