WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1991
OUR OWN HONG KONG INVOLVEMENT IN CHINA, PARTICULARLY GUANGDONG, IS ENORMOUS. SOMETHING LIKE $7 BILLION WORTH OF HONG KONG INVESTMENT GOING INTO GUANGDONG; SOMETHING LIKE ONE-AND-A-HALF TO TWO MILLION PEOPLE WORKING FOR HONG KONG ENTERPRISE IN GUANGDONG. IT'S A COLOSSAL ASSET ΤΟ HONG KONG THAT IT HAS SUSTAINED US IN OUR ECONOMIC GROWTH OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS. AND EVEN IF YOU LOOK AT THAT QUESTION OF THE BRAIN DRAIN, THE DRAIN WHICH IS NOT OFTEN NOTICED IS THAT WE HAVE PEOPLE MOVING ACROSS THE BORDER INTO CHINA; WE'VE GOT SOMETHING LIKE 50,000 MANAGERIAL STAFF WORKING IN CHINA FOR HONG KONG ENTERPRISE.
ANOTHER ASPECT OF THIS IS THAT GUANGDONG ITSELF, SOUTHERN CHINA AS A WHOLE, BUT GUANGDONG IN PARTICULAR IS GROWING VERY RAPIDLY AND WE ARE CLOSELY CONNECTED WITH THAT AREA OF RAPID GROWTH. I DON'T WANT TO OVER-LARD WHAT I SAY WITH STATISTICS, BUT EXPORT GROWTH LAST YEAR IN GUANGDONG WAS SOMETHING LIKE 43 PER CENT; FOR CHINA AS A WHOLE IT WAS SOMETHING LIKE 15-AND-A-HALF PER CENT, AND I THINK THAT GIVES ONE A PICTURE OF THE WAY IN WHICH GUANGDONG IS CONTINUING TO FORGE AHEAD AS A MAJOR CENTRE OF THE CHINA EXPORT TRADE. FOR INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT, GUANGDONG ACCOUNTS FOR 10 PER CENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT OF THE WHOLE OF CHINA. SO WE HAVE A MAJOR ASSET IN TERMS OF OUR VERY CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR, GUANGDONG.
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BUT IT GOES WIDER THAN THAT. THE FACT THAT WE ARE DEVELOPING INCREASINGLY AS A CENTRE FOR REGIONAL TRADE: REGIONAL TRANSPORT; REGIONAL TOURISM; REGIONAL SERVICES, THAT TOO I THINK IS AN IMMENSE ASSET. WE ARE A KEY PART OF THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION AND THAT ITSELF IS ANOTHER RAPIDLY DEVELOPING PART OF THE WORLD. AGAIN, JUST TO USE SOME STATISTICS; ASIA-PACIFIC TRADE IN THE LATTER HALF OF THE 1980'S BY SOMETHING LIKE 65 PER CENT; WORLD TRADE GREW BY ONLY 45 PER SO WE ARE PART OF THAT RAPIDLY GROWING AREA OF THE WORLD. AND I THERE ARE A LOT OF FOREIGN COMPANIES WHO REALISE THAT AND THAT IS ONE REASON WHY THEY'VE POSITIONED THEMSELVES IN HONG KONG. THE NUMBER OF NEW COMPANIES COMING INTO HONG KONG IS SOMETHING LIKE, NET, NET 80 A YEAR.
GREW CENT. THINK
SO THOSE ARE TWO REASONS WHY JUST IN VERY BROAD TERMS, I THINK WE CAN LOOK, NOT IN A TOTALLY RELAXED WAY AT WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE WORLD ECONOMY, THAT WOULD BE NAIVE BECAUSE WE WILL BE AFFECTED BY WHAT HAPPENS IN THE WORLD ECONOMY AS A WHOLE, PARTICULARLY OUR MAJOR MARKETS. BUT WE DO FIND OURSELVES CUSHIONED BY BEING VERY CLOSE ΤΟ CHINA, AND PARTICULARLY THE RAPIDLY GROWING AREA OF SOUTHERN CHINA AND BY BEING PART OF THE RAPIDLY GROWING ASIA-PACIFIC REGION.
LET ME TURN TO THE SECOND BROADBRUSH AREA, AND I WISH TO DEAL WITH THIS IN BROADBRUSH TERMS AT THE MOMENT, OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA IN GENERAL TERMS, THAT IS POLITICAL AS WELL AS ECONOMIC, I'VE SKETCHED IN THE ECONOMIC.
/THAT RELATIONSHIP
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1991