On Monday, Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, proposed in his work report that young people from Hong Kong and Macao should be "integrated into the overall development of the country." At the same time, the phenomenon of Hong Kong young people traveling north to the mainland for consumption has also attracted public attention.
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China's "Two Sessions" were held this week. In his report on Monday, Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, in addition to mentioning the "united front" as always to promote harmonious relations between political parties, ethnic groups, religions and classes, as well as relations between compatriots at home and abroad, also summarized the work in Hong Kong and Macao in the past year in three sentences: " Carry out investigations around promoting Hong Kong and Macao youths to better integrate into the overall development of the country, organize special inspections to deepen exchanges and cooperation between Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland, and improve the working mechanism for liaising with Hong Kong and Macao committee members."
"Sing Tao Daily" pointed out that Wang Huning's report was not only simpler than last year, but also did not mention Hong Kong and Macao affairs among this year's main tasks. Bloomberg pointed out that young people in Hong Kong who once took to the streets to protest against the invasion of Chinese political forces are increasingly going to Shenzhen and other cities in Guangdong Province to spend money and party because of deflation and cheap prices in the mainland. In addition, a poll conducted by the Hong Kong and Guangdong Youth Federation also showed that between 2020 and 2023, more and more young people in Hong Kong are willing or not opposed to working in the mainland, with the proportion increasing from 22% to 66%.
Leung Ming-kang , who once worked in the Hong Kong journalism industry and now works part-time at the British Chinese media "Chasing News" , said in a written interview with this station that because of Macao's historical origins, colonization by the Macao-Portuguese government, and its population and land are far smaller than those of Hong Kong, he recognized Macau people are not resistant to working in the mainland or against integration, but Hong Kong people are different: "It has become a trend for Hong Kong people to go north to consume in recent years. This is partly because after the social movement and a series of purges, everyone feels that there is nothing more to do. Since the two With little local difference and complete disenchantment with Hong Kong, it appears that even those who still hold an anti-government stance would rather go to the mainland to spend money, but they cannot speak freely in China and Hong Kong as before."
Liang Mingkang said that the policies of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong governments also "reflect the Chinese Communist Party's desire to bring the purchasing power of Hong Kong people to the mainland, so it opens the border overnight, Hong Kong trains go northward, and there are more and more border crossings." In addition, in the past year, the Hong Kong government also "very much welcomes mainland tourists who do not spend much money in Hong Kong to enter." He said that more than ten years ago, mainland tourists went to Hong Kong to buy famous brands. Today’s mainland tourists are discussing how to find all-night restaurants in Hong Kong to stay overnight for free. “Even the police and fire fighters have launched Little Red Book promotion department activities. It seems that Hong Kong is integrating The Greater Bay Area rather than a special administrative region is the general trend."
In January this year, the Shenzhen Municipal Government issued a work report and planned to hold the first "Hong Kong·Trend" Shopping Festival with Hong Kong. The State Council of China also issued a plan for the coordinated development of Shenzhen and Hong Kong in the Hetao Science and Technology Innovation Park last year. It believes that this move will help enrich the practical connotation of "one country, two systems" and allow the 28 measures to create an economic environment to benefit science and technology projects and talents in the two places. .
Chen Pokong, a current affairs commentator in the United States and our special commentator, said that the current employment situation in Hong Kong and the mainland is not optimistic. Wang Huning's speech to deepen exchanges between the two places is actually for the purpose of united front: "Hong Kong returned to the People's Republic of China in 1997; After the New Year's Protest, the Chinese Communist Party used the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law to rule Hong Kong, which was called the second return and returned to the Communist Party of China. After the return, Hong Kong youth must be brainwashed and assimilated, because Hong Kong still has considerable spiritual independence. So this is the second handover. Three Steps to Spiritual Return.”
Chen Pokong believes that exchanges between Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland have always been close. Reform and opening up in the 1980s drove the economic development of Shenzhen and Zhuhai, but now they are affected by the Beijing authorities' breach of trust in "one country, two systems" and the "Sino-British Joint Declaration" , "chilled the hearts of people on both sides", and Hong Kong's international status plummeted, funds were transferred, and talents left.