Traveling through the 60s, living a life of wealth and prosperity

Chapter 515 Economic Development Meeting
Hong Kong Governor Murray MacLehose nodded in approval and said:
"The China of today is not what it was a hundred years ago. Our country could march straight into the country with a few artillery pieces and take whatever we wanted.

Now we are afraid that they will not abide by the spirit of the contract and call us in advance.
These foreign merchants who have been in Hong Kong for a long time always fail to recognize the reality.
From now on, commercial competition in Hong Kong will be left to the businessmen to deal with themselves. The most we can do is to give them a bottom line and let them not get out of control. This will also give us an explanation in China.

In the future, they will have to play their own role in competition within the scope of business rules.

We won’t care about the rest.

Well, Mr. Xia Dingji, you have a lot of experience in economic development, please tell me your suggestions. "

"Okay, Mr. Governor, first let's talk about the construction of clean government. Since our Hong Kong government established the Independent Commission Against Corruption last year, it has cracked down on corruption and created a good business environment and social atmosphere.

It has enhanced the confidence of global investors and provided a guarantee for the long-term stable development of Hong Kong's economy.

Secondly, we established a Housing Commission and released the "Ten-Year Housing Plan".
The plan to build new public housing units to house 10 million people within 180 years has aroused enthusiastic support from the grassroots Hong Kong citizens.

In addition, our Hong Kong government is now vigorously developing the New Territories, which has relieved a huge amount of pressure on the crowded urban areas of Hong Kong.
But the New Territories are still sparsely populated, and the Hong Kong government still owns a large amount of land.
So I personally suggest that the Hong Kong government should set up a "New Territories Development Agency"

It will encourage the capital of Hong Kong's wealthy people to vigorously purchase land in the New Territories, develop the New Territories, and build a new economic center. It will also be easier for the Hong Kong government to sell land and more convenient for us to collect funds and transfer them back to the country.

In addition, since our "Ten Years of Housing Construction" has received enthusiastic support from the society, we'd better issue a specific occupancy clause to solve the housing problem for Hong Kong's lower-class citizens and low-income families.

I think the name of the program, "Home Ownership for All," is good.

Also, as Hong Kong's urban area grows larger, we need to vigorously build fast public transportation such as the subway.
On the one hand, it is for our Hong Kong government to better manage Hong Kong, and on the other hand, it is for better economic development.

Finally, there is the issue of education. With the rapid development of global industrialization,

Global companies have increasingly higher requirements for employment. We in Hong Kong want to transform our labor-intensive industries into technology-intensive industries, increase Hong Kong's share of global foreign trade, and diversify our development.
The free education we have now is not strong enough.

I personally suggest that we implement a 9-year free compulsory education system in Hong Kong.
Although we have now achieved free primary education, the educational level is too low.

It is impossible to cultivate a large number of talents and improve the quality of the labor force.
We'd better extend free education to junior high school and implement 9 years of free education.
The citizens of Hong Kong have been taught to be loyal to the Queen since childhood, providing strong human support for Hong Kong's economic development.

That is all I have to say, Mr Governor."

After listening to what Xia Dingji said, the Governor of Hong Kong thought about it carefully, and then spoke again:
"Mr. Xia Dingji proposed infrastructure construction, industrial transformation and upgrading, development of the New Territories, the "Home Ownership Plan", education plan,

Let’s discuss it and see what you think.”

Chief Secretary Chung Yat Kit was the first to speak:
"Mr. Governor, although our Hong Kong government is rich now,

But we have to pay tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars to the mainland every year.

These are basically paid for using the Hong Kong government's fiscal surplus.
Moreover, the expectations of Hong Kong on the mainland are getting higher and higher.
So I don’t agree with implementing nine years of free education in Hong Kong.”

Xia Dingji looked at Zhong Yijie angrily and started to spit out:

"If you don't understand economics, don't make irresponsible remarks. Hong Kong's economic development has reached a bottleneck.

Hong Kong will not be able to achieve greater development in the future market competition by relying solely on cheap labor.
Improving Hong Kong's talent development, upgrading Hong Kong's industry and strengthening Hong Kong's foreign trade economy are now urgent tasks that we need to do.

Zhong Yijie, as the Chief Secretary, you also know that the requirements of the mainland are getting higher and higher, and they are trying to increase the amount of funds we pay to the mainland every year, so I suggest that you have a long-term vision and don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, otherwise we will all suffer. "

Seeing this, MacLehose could only interrupt the quarrel between the two and said:

"Okay, okay,

You two are already big names in Hong Kong.
It's all for the economic development of Hong Kong, why are they arguing?

Mr. Xia Dingji, I personally think your suggestion makes a lot of sense.

However, the practical problems mentioned by Mr. Zhong Yijie are also problems that we cannot avoid.

We have many government projects to implement now, such as the Ten-Year Housing Plan and the subway construction plan.

For example, if we want to develop the New Territories and sell land to earn money, we also need to invest in infrastructure construction.

So, Mr. Xia Dingji, we need to provide free education and improve the quality of human resources, but we can't rush it.
We will prioritize other programs that can quickly recover funds, and then implement free education programs.

what do you think? "

The Governor of Hong Kong has already made the decision, what else can Xia Dingji do?
After all, as politicians, MacLehose and Haddon-Cave had a sense of social responsibility, and they also had foresight and methods for economic development.

So, Ha Dingji nodded to MacLehose and said:

"Okay, Mr. Governor, I have no objection to your arrangement."

Seeing this, Zhong Yijie also smiled and said to MacLehose:
"Mr. Governor, you are very wise. I have no objection to your arrangement."

"Okay, as long as everyone has no objection, this is settled.

Come on, let the others continue talking."

At this time, John Hobley, the Attorney General, immediately said:
"Mr. Governor, as our Ten-Year Housing Plan progresses,

Citizens are increasingly concerned about how to determine the low-cost housing provided by the Hong Kong Government.
Therefore, I think the "Home Ownership" program is urgent.
The Hong Kong government must also announce the standards for obtaining low-cost housing to the general public as soon as possible.”

"Well, what Mr. John said makes a lot of sense.

Let me say this: I will leave it to the Department of Justice to formulate the rules regarding the standards for obtaining affordable housing under the "Home Ownership" program.

I have only one request, that is, the standards set by the Department of Justice should be truly accessible to low-income citizens.

Solve the housing problems of the lower-class citizens and provide impetus for the sustainable development of Hong Kong's economy.

After the Department of Justice has formulated the acquisition standards, we will have a meeting to finalize them.
What do you think? "

(End of this chapter)