City Beat | Hong Kong must engage with China’s grand plans for the national economy – and that doesn’t mean being brainwashed
Beijing has broken with past practice by pushing Hong Kong and Macau to get more involved with nationwide development plans, and we should all heed the message
When a ministerial-level Chinese Communist Party theorist came down to Hong Kong to brief officials here on the ruling party’s latest decisions, the city might not have been aware it was the same for neighbouring Macau.
Another senior official from the Development Research Centre of the State Council was simultaneously giving a similar briefing to Macau government officials and representatives from different sectors on the recently concluded 19th party congress.
Hong Kong and Macau being the two only special administrative regions governed by the same ruling formula of “one country, two systems”, these events understandably raised some eyebrows as they marked the very first time since their respective handovers to Chinese sovereignty that Beijing mobilised its representatives to “educate” the two cities on party documents in such a high-profile manner.
Beijing seeks better understanding of Communist Party’s work and goals from Hong Kong establishment
Like it or not, this is a new reality for the two cities. They will have to realise that under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, one country, two systems can no longer be used as a shield to avoid learning more about the overall development direction that the country and party are taking.
