8
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1991
UP TO THE END OF AUGUST, HONG KONG'S LAND BORDER WITH CHINA HAD VARIOUS BEEN CROSSED OVER 23 MILLION TIMES BY PEOPLE MAKING VISITS OF SORTS TO CHINA OR TO HONG KONG.
PERSONAL
CONTACTS
THIS FIGURE SHOWED THAT A VAST NETWORK OF ALREADY EXISTS BETWEEN THIS TERRITORY AND THE MAINLAND OF CHINA.
"IT IS A NATURAL GROWTH. WE WILL ENCOURAGE IT," HE SAID.
IN ADDITION TO THESE HUMAN CONTACTS, SIR DAVID SAID HONG KONG'S BILATERAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT RELATIONS WERE ALREADY EXTENSIVE.
OVER THE PAST DECADE, THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY HAD SEEN THE OPPORTUNITIES PRESENTED BY ECONOMIC REFORM IN CHINA.
HONG KONG INVESTMENT IN NEW MANUFACTURING
PROVINCE AND ELSEWHERE IN CAPACITY IN GUANGDONG SUSTAIN THE TERRITORY'S OWN ECONOMIC GROWTH.
NEW
AND PROCESSING CHINA HAD HELPED
AT
SAME THE
CONTRIBUTED TIME, HE SAID, IT HAD CHINA'S OVERALL DEVELOPMENT.
то
SOUTHERN
BY
MANUFACTURING
AS MANY AS THREE MILLION WORKERS IN GUANGDONG WERE EMPLOYED
FACTORIES: HONG KONG
FOUR TIMES HONG
OWN KONG'S
WORKFORCE.
OVER 80 PER CENT OF THE EXTERNAL INVESTMENT IN GUANGDONG FROM HONG KONG.
CAMB
"WE
NOT SHOULD POPULATION GREATER
ENORMOUS POTENTIAL
ALONE FORGET THAT GUANGDONG PROVINCE
THERE THAN THAT OF BRITAIN OR FRANCE. FOR FURTHER
THE GROWTH IN
HAS REMAINS COMING YEARS," HE
EXPLAINED.
INDEED, SIR
DAVID
SAID, THE
SOUTHERN AREA OF CHINA
WAS
GROWTH
POTENTIALLY ONE OF ASIA'S MOST SIGNIFICANT CENTRES OF ECONOMIC OVER THE NEXT FEW DECADES.
"ACHIEVING THE SMOOTH AND SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF SOVEREIGNTY IN 1997 IS A GOAL WORTH EVERY OUNCE OF OUR ABILITY AND EFFORT.
THIS OF
"MEMBERS
COUNCIL WILL HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY
HE SAID. PROCESS AS THEY WILL IN OTHER AREAS OF GOVERNMENT,
"IT WILL NOT BE AN EASY TASK. BUT
PERHAPS OUR GREATEST RESPONSIBILITY
"
MEETING THIS
IN
THIS
CHALLENGE
IS
TO THE PEOPLE OF HONG KONG, I
HE SAID. AM SURE I CAN COUNT ON THIS COUNCIL TO PLAY ITS PART,
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