Residents must change mindset and find a new edge in Bay Area

Public discussions or even debates over the pros and cons of Hong Kong's participation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area city cluster development has been heating up since the central government released the outline development plan for the project last month. It is not surprising at all, as some local deputies to the National People's Congress pointed out in a meeting on Thursday, that some Hong Kong residents are not as convinced as others are about the benefits of the SAR playing an active and full-on role in the Bay Area development in the years to come. This is because they fear it would be a disaster for Hong Kong if the city ends up losing its "edge" over other partner cities instead of becoming more "superior" in comparison. Such sentiments, groundless as they are, must be thoroughly refuted for Hong Kong society's own sake.

For those worrywarts mentioned above the keyword is "advantages", i.e. what makes Hong Kong one of the "Asian tigers" it has been for the past few decades and especially the freest economy in the world with matching rule of law. Some of them are even suggesting the "one country, two systems" principle Hong Kong enjoys could be eroded once the SAR is fully involved in the Bay Area development, because much of the Bay Area is in Guangdong, where Hong Kong law does not apply. Sadly this is an uneducated assumption, if not straight-up arrogance. Did it ever occur to them this "fear" of theirs may be seen as the desire to be above the law in Guangdong? Let's hope they don't mean some Hong Kong residents are prone to breaking laws on the mainland.

Thankfully the great majority of Hong Kong residents are in favor of seizing opportunities arising from the Bay Area development. After all, not many people still refuse to face the reality that some of Hong Kong's advantages, or strengths, have been fading away for some time mainly due to changes in geopolitics. It is time we understood Hong Kong is already losing its "edge" over neighboring Guangdong, Shenzhen in particular, because they have their own advantages over Hong Kong and are determined to turn their "disadvantages" around. Instead of bemoaning the loss of its "edge" those doubters should think about how Hong Kong can build new "advantages" with fellow Bay Area cities for their common benefits.

The Bay Area city cluster is not an arena for bloody duels to the death. It is meant to provide Hong Kong and Macao with a platform big enough for them to build a brighter future with Guangdong, and hopefully the whole country, than they can ever do on their own. It will not change their capitalist system, free economy or lifestyle within their boundaries, and thus is no cause for worry about the SARs losing their inherent advantages. Rather, their participation in the city cluster development will provide them a much bigger arena to put their strengths to full use.