These days I am reminded of the adage that greets every visitor in the main entrance hall of the Royal Naval College of the Netherlands (Koninklijk Instituut voor de Marine), “Knowledge is Power, Character is More.” I wish I could place these words in every hallway of every school in Hong Kong, and ask every teacher to explain and impress upon their students its meaning. It surely would do them far more good than what they can derive from their social media.
There is a wealth of knowledge that needs to be conveyed to Hong Kong youngsters, not only about the history of Hong Kong and China but about the opportunities that await them. Neither history lessons, nor enlightening and enthusing the youth about the exciting and unique opportunities within their grasp, need to become political. The simple objective facts will suffice.
And these facts are phenomenal. Hong Kong is an integral and vital part of a newly created economic power base that will rival any other metropolis in the world: the Guandong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. This area consisting of Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in Guangdong province (Shenzhen and Guangzhou being the two largest in population) can compete favorably with any leading conurbations, such as the San Francisco Bay Area or the New York Metropolitan Area.
Collectively, the Greater Bay Area has a population of around 73 million (more than France or the United Kingdom), and a GDP of US$1.7 trillion. This is a GDP bigger than that of Russia, South Korea or Australia. In fact, considering the recent developments in the global economies, the Greater Bay Area’s GDP is certain to end up in the top 10 globally, were it to be counted as a separate country. That there is significant further upward potential is demonstrated by the GDP per capita number at around US$23,000 for the Greater Bay Area (approximately equivalent to GDP per capita for Portugal), which, while in the top 50 globally, is significantly lower than Singapore or Hong Kong.
The Greater Bay Area is also larger in land mass than other economic bay areas or countries: At 56,094 square kilometers, the area is twice the size of Israel, and larger than either Denmark, Switzerland, or the Netherlands. There is plenty of room for further development in infrastructure leading to increased connectivity not only intra-Greater Bay Area, but with the rest of the country as well as other Asian regions.
The economic potential that will be unleashed once the regulatory framework is fully aligned is incredibly significant. The most obvious example of “low hanging fruit” where there is great upside is the closer cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the two largest economies within the Bay Area.
Shenzhen is clearly a remarkable success story, having transformed itself from a small fishing village to a vibrant first-tier, ultra-advanced city in only four decades; it is the center for technological innovation, development and manufacturing in China, often referred to as the “Silicon Valley of China”. The leading Chinese technology companies that are the most famous globally are all based in Shenzhen: Tencent, ZTE, OnePlus, Huawei, DJI and BYD. These are all companies with great global ambition and therefore need to hire equally ambitious young people with both language skills and a certain international outlook and cultural sensitivity. Hong Kong, being China’s outpost to the rest of the world, seems the perfect place for the human resources departments of these companies to recruit bilingual and bicultural staff. Conversely, these companies are the ideal workplace for young men and women interested in fourth-generation technologies, and perhaps dreaming of their own startups one day.
The international ambitions of these fast-growing companies will also be assisted by the services that Hong Kong can offer based on decades of experience and our vast pool of expertise in international commercial law, arbitration, optimal company structuring, trade finance, international syndicated loans, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and patent law, to name but a few areas.
Transferring the knowledge of these opportunities to the young generation of Hong Kong is but the first part of the task of schools and society at large. The second part of the adage this article started with is perhaps more important: “Character is More.”
Many young people in Hong Kong are more familiar with Japan or Thailand than they are with the rest of China. It is also evident that many have led a rather sheltered life in Hong Kong, and the idea of working and living outside of their comfort zone seems very alien to them. The lukewarm response to the opportunities provided by the Belt and Road Initiative is testament to this. It takes a certain level of backbone and fortitude to leave familiar surroundings, the warm nest, behind and start a career from scratch elsewhere. Earlier generations have found the experience is beneficial both in learning and in character building.
That is why the opportunities presented only 130 kilometers (Guangzhou) or even 30 kilometers (Shenzhen) away are easy to grasp. Not only distance-wise, but culturally: Macao, Shenzhen, or Guangzhou, while different, are not completely alien destinations. It is not as if we are talking about uprooting to Dhaka or Nairobi! The famous Hong Kong “can-do spirit” should manifest itself among our young people again, and parents and teachers should encourage the youth to cross the border. Like steel, character needs to be tempered to become strong and flexible.
At the end of the day, the youth of Hong Kong must embrace the opportunities unfolding before their eyes and become part of the pioneer generation in helping to develop the Greater Bay Area to its fullest potential. Further people integration within the Greater Bay Area will also foster greater understanding and a sense of commonality, even patriotism. It is incumbent upon Hong Kong society to encourage our young people to grasp with both hands the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that awaits them.
The author is a specialist in international public law, and an adviser on China-related matters to both the private and public sectors. He has lived in Hong Kong for over 18 years.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
