Sir,
DRAFT SPEECH
Dr
HILION CHEUNG-LEEN CBZ JP
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
14 JANUARY 1987
Adjournment Debate on
Development of Industry in Hong Kong
economic
As I see it, one of the fundamentals of Hong Kong's success is the Government's commitment to a policy of
positive non-interventionism in industry and commerce.
This policy has
merchants
enabled Hong Kong
manufacturers and
to adapt more
more quickly than their competitors in
in the
region to changes in export markets. The results are for all to see for example, our exports last year to Europe grew at a high rate, especially West Germany, where the value growth in our exports in 1986 rose by about 30% over the previous year.
However, performance of our export to the United States
in one
of our main export industries, that is the electrical and electronics industry, has apparently declined in 1986, while the performance of both South Korea and Taiwan show substantial
increases for the same period. One of the reasons therefor is
that
the over
past six years, average annual
rate growth
of
labour productivity in South Korea and Taiwan in the electrical/ electronics field has been much higher than that of Hong Kong :
for example, between 1980 and 1984, the average annual growth
rates of labour productivity in
in this field in South Korea and
Taiwan have been 22.1% and 13.6% respectively, compared to Hong Kong's figure of only 9.5%.
Nevertheless, I believe that our policy of positive
non-intervention in industry has stood us in good stead
throughout the
Because years.
of our
tax relatively simple
structure and low level of direct tax, we cannot offer all or too
the many of
ΟΙ tax holidays incentives provided by Singapore,
Taiwan and South Korea. At the same time,
time, I do believe that
there
is still much room for
Government
to strengthen or
fine-tune its policy of positive non-intervention in industry.