A former Chinese official said Sunday that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) did not complete "de-colonization" in line with law after its return to the motherland in 1997, which is one of the deep-rooted reasons for Hong Kong's comparative setback in economic and social development in recent years.
Chen Zuo'er, who was deputy director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, made the remarks at a seminar sponsored by the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
The association, a top think tank on Hong Kong and Macao affairs, is chaired by Chen, a veteran who dealt with Hong Kong and Macao affairs for nearly 30 years.
Chen said although the Hong Kong SAR had made great contribution to China's opening-up and economic take-off in the past decades and also made remarkable progress by itself, the region has achieved barely satisfactory development in recent years compared with its competitors.
He listed an array of facts and figures of Hong Kong surpassed by its neighboring and competing economies.
Singapore exceeded Hong Kong in 2003 in terms of GDP per capita and overtook Hong Kong in 2010 with the total GDP. Hong Kong's port handling capacity was surpassed by Singapore in 2005, Shanghai in 2007 and Shenzhen in 2013.
When the neighboring economies try every means to attract Chinese mainland tourists, Hong Kong recorded a 11.6-percent decline of overnight visitors and especially a 14.7-percent decline of tourists from the mainland this summer.
He believed that one of the deep-rooted reasons why Hong Kong witnessed such comparative setback is that the region did not complete "de-colonization" after the end of British colonial rule in 1997, and even worse, there has been a "de-Sinicization" phenomenon in Hong Kong.
They resulted in great internal friction in Hong Kong, jeopardizing both the "One Country" and the "Two Systems," warned Chen.
"More forward, or Hong Kong will fall behind," Chen said, adding that Hong Kongers should not take the region's advantages in such areas as finance, professional services and legal systems for a sense of superiority.
Instead, Hong Kong should rethink its role in the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, known as the "Belt and Road" initiatives, and grasp the strategy's opportunities.
