I
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I am most gratified that this relationship in many fields has developed to the mutual benefit of the people of Hong Kong
and Japan.
This relationship is of considerable value to Hong
Kong's stability and prosperity. We should do our utmost to
strengthen it further.
There are, in my opinion, four important areas in which we
should further expand and intensify our efforts.
The first area is personal contact
between the two peoples
at various levels and in various fields. Symbolic of this contact
were the two visits to Japan in December 1984 and May 1986 by the
Governor Sir Edward Youde accompanied by Sir S.Y. Chung, who led
the Hong Kong Economic Mission. These two visits within a
relatively short period after the conclusion of the Sino-British
negotiations contributed greatly in strengthening the close
relations between Hong Kong and Japan.
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Furthermore, I am extremely
happy to see that personal contact between the peoples of Hong Kong
and Japan has flourished in the last five years with the flow of
people between the two places doubling in each direction. Last
year about 600,000 Japanese visited Hong Kong and about 200,000
people from Hong Kong went to Japan. In my judgment this. two-way
flow of people is the most important element in deepening under-
standing between our two peoples. I hope this trend will continue
in the coming years.
The second area of importance is investment. Japan's direct
investment in Hong Kong has shown a steady growth over the last
six years, although, by its nature, the amount of investment
varies year by year. In concrete figures, Japan's direct invest-
ment in Hong Kong on a cumulative basis grew from US$1,096 million
in March 1980 to US$2,931 million in March 1986: a significant
increase of 2.7 times over this six-year period. Hong Kong is
the sixth largest market in the world for Japanese investment,
and, after Indonesia, the second largest market in Asia. Japanese investment in Hong Kong comprises 3.5 per cent of Japan's total
overseas direct investment. Given the massive appreciation in
the Yen and Hong Kong's good investment climate, I expect the