MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1992
LIKE
AVERAGE GROWTH RATE OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS IS SOMETHING 6.4 PERCENT. PER CAPITA GDP DURING THAT TIME HAS GONE UP 16 PERCENT IN REAL TERMS SO THAT NOW WE RATE AS PER CAPITAL GDP AT SOMETHING LIKE US$14,000 AND IT'S WORTH REMEMBERING THAT THAT IS MORE THAN FOUR COUNTRIES IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY. SO IT'S NOT A BAD FIGURE, AND OUR TRADE, PARTICULARLY OUR TRADE WITH CHINA HAS DEVELOPED ENORMOUSLY.
THOSE FIVE YEARS, TRADE WITH CHINA HAS GONE UP BY 140 PERCENT. AND THAT'S THE OTHER POINT I WANTED TO TOUCH ON. I'M SORRY, IN A WAY TO FIND YOU'VE HAD SUCH A LARGE DELEGATION GOING UP ΤΟ GUANGDONG BECAUSE I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BE ABLE TO PROFIT FROM MY OWN RECENT EXPERIENCE AND SAY I'VE JUST SEEN IT ALL MYSELF, AND HERE ALL AROUND THE ROOM WILL BE TENS OF PEOPLE WHO'VE SEEN IT THEMSELVES.
IN
BUT LET ME JUST SAY A WORD OR TWO ABOUT THAT, BECAUSE I THINK IT IS FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PROSPECTS FOR HONG KONG IN THE FUTURE. LIKE MANY OF YOU, I WAS UP IN GUANGDONG RECENTLY AND I'M SURE, LIKE MANY OF YOU, WAS ENORMOUSLY IMPRESSED BY WHAT IS HAPPENING THERE. HUGE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND I WAS STRUCK TOO BY THE INTERLINKING BETWEEN THAT AND HONG KONG. IT WASN'T JUST SEEING FACTORIES WHICH WERE JOINT VENTURES OR BEING MANAGED BY HONG KONG MANAGERS, IT WAS REALISING THAT ALL THE TRANSPORT LINKS, NEARLY ALL THE CONNECTIONS WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD ARE COMING THROUGH HONG KONG. THAT'S WHAT REALLY STRUCK ME. ALSO THE FACT THAT THERE IS A PROVINCE WHICH IS GROWING ENORMOUSLY FAST. THEY HAVE BEEN GROWING MUCH FASTER THAN US. THEIR FIGURE FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS OF GROWTH IS 13 PERCENT A YEAR AVERAGE TERMS. BUT OUR INVOLVEMENT THERE, HONG KONG'S INVOLVEMENT IS ENORMOUS AND YOU ALL KNOW THE FIGURES, ABOUT 80 PERCENT OF THE EXTERNAL INVESTMENT IN GUANGDONG COMES FROM HONG KONG OR THROUGH HONG KONG. SOMETHING LIKE THREE MILLION WORKERS WORKING FOR HONG KONG ENTERPRISE, SOMETHING LIKE 19,000 ENTERPRISES IN GUANGDONG DOING PROJECTS FOR HONG KONG,
SO THERE IS AN ENORMOUS INTERCHANGE BETWEEN OURSELVES AND GUANGDONG, AND AS ONE LOOKS TO THE FUTURE, I FIND GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT FROM WHAT IS GOING ON IN GUANGDONG AND OUR OWN ROLE IN IT. THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER OF MAGAZINE NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AROUND THE WORLD ON THIS RECENTLY NOTING THAT GUANGDONG AND THE PEARL RIVER DELTA IS ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING AREAS OF THE WORLD NOW, AND RIGHT AT THE CENTER OF THAT IN EVERY SENSE IS HONG KONG. I DO NOTICE THAT EVERY TIME THAT I MOVE MY HANDS EVERYBODY PHOTOGRAPHS. THANK YOU, I SHALL TRY TO DO IT MORE OFTEN.
IT BRINGS ME ON TO MY LAST POINT AND PERHAPS I'LL DO IT LIKE THIS, AND THAT IS, THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP, A VERY CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OURSELVES AND CHINA AND HANDLING THAT RIGHT IS GOING TO BE CRUCIAL TO THE WAY IN WHICH WE MANAGE THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG. IT'S NOT AN EASY RELATIONSHIP. GOODNESS KNOWS, WE ALL REALISE THAT. TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SYSTEMS, DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS, DIFFERENT HISTORIES, A LOT OF SUSPICION THAT HAS GROWN UP OVER THE YEARS, MISTRUST OF WHAT THE OTHER SIDE IS DOING. A TERRIFIC ABILITY, AND IT'S AN ABILITY ON BOTH SIDES LET ME SAY THAT, TO BELIEVE THAT WHAT THE OTHER SIDE DOES IS INFINITELY SUBTLE AND CLEVER AND HAS AN ULTERIOR MOTIVE. NOW I KNOW MY SIDE AND I KNOW HOW OFTEN THAT IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE THAT THOSE WHO DEVISE MARVELLOUS CALCULATIONS ABOUT HOW SUBTLE THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT IS, FAIL TO REALISE THAT QUITE OFTEN WE JUST MUDDLE THROUGH AND THAT WE HAVE NOT WORKED THINGS OUT IN A VERY SUBTLE WAY. I SUSPECT, INCIDENTALLY, THAT WHEN WE DO THE SAME ΤΟ CHINA WE WORK OUT MARVELLOUS THEORIES ABOUT WHY SUCH AND SUCH A THING WAS DONE AT SUCH AND SUCH A TIME, PROBABLY WE ARE WRONG AS WELL AND THAT THEY HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME SORT OF PROBLEMS THAT WE DO.
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/ANYHOW, WE