Tammy Tam

City Beat | As China reforms under Xi Jinping, Hong Kong should look across the border for future plans

Carrie Lam’s Beijing trip comes at a time where major adjustments in the central government are on the horizon, and likely to impact her city

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Newly minted Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping. AFP PHOTO / Anthony WALLACE

Tammy Tam

Published: 3:15pm, 6 Aug 2017Updated: 10:47pm, 6 Aug 2017

Chinese President Xi Jinping is in summer retreat, along with other top Communist Party leaders, after inspecting a massive, combat-ready parade at a military base in Inner Mongolia to mark the 90th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army.

While the inspection was a high-profile event, for the benefit of both domestic and global audiences, the annual retreat to the Beidaihe beach resort, near the capital, is shrouded in secrecy as an important prelude to the much-anticipated 19th Party Congress later this year.

Nothing on the agenda concerns Hong Kong, but it is by no means irrelevant to the city’s future, especially this time as it will shed light on China’s future reform direction by finalising the tone of the coming congress. Major policies to be decided, especially economic strategy, will profoundly impact our city.

How Xi Jinping won a stronger mandate to lead China

Back in Hong Kong, it’s quite amazing to see that the talk of the town is almost obsessively focused on the joint checkpoint arrangement for the new high-speed railway to Guangzhou and the appointment of the new undersecretary for education who is under attack from the opposition camp over her “red” pro-Beijing credentials.

Of course, political controversies should not be trivialised, and these two issues in particular concern cross-border ties and trust building. But our politicians should not miss the bigger picture either, and that is the importance of the Beidaihe retreat and where China’s reform is heading under Xi.

Chinese President Xi Jinping stands on a military jeep as he inspects troops of the People's Liberation Army. Photo: Li Gang/Xinhua via AP

The gathering, in a strict sense, is more of a brainstorming session by the nation’s top leaders than a formal meeting. Besides finalising the new leadership lineup for Xi’s next term, it is also to decide strategy on how to transform China into a more “powerful” country. Xi is now widely seen as joining the ranks of Mao Zedong, who put China on its feet, and Deng Xiaoping, who made the nation rich by opening it up.