Opinion | Four important messages in Luo Huining's New Year address

By Edward Hei Leung, LegCo Member

Last Wednesday, Luo Huining, director of the Central Government's Liaison Office, delivered his New Year address titled as "Let history illuminate Hong Kong's future". He did not only hail the return of luster and glamor to Pearl of the Orient with the concerted efforts by SAR authorities and community members, but also announced at least four missions for the coming governance throughout his 10-minute online speech.

To commence with, Luo Huining reminded the city's officials to stay alert for hostile forces. Thanks to the enactment of National Security Law (NSL), the city has already gotten out of the vicious cycle of street violence. Yet, as an old Chinese saying goes, the tree may long for calmness, but the wind will not subside. The territory remains in peril as long as US considers China as its top strategic rival. US, on one hand, keeps escalating its efforts to gain greater insight into China, particularly in Hong Kong, given the latest establishment of CIA's China Mission Center by which Chinese-speaking agents are recruited. On the other hand, opposition leaders in exile, including Nathan Law, Ted Hui and Brain Leung, to name but a few, collude with foreign forces and provide fertile ground for anti-China sentiments in Hong Kong. That's why the second mission is to build up systems and mechanisms to resolve deep-seated problems.

In fact, Hong Kong has numerous issues pending to handle. At constitutional level, Hong Kong has inevitable responsibility to enact Article 23 anti-subversion bill. To be honest, NSL only covers four types of illegal behaviors, contrary to seven kinds of criminal offenses identified by Article 23. In other words, NSL does not handle treason, theft of state secrets or local political groups' ties with foreign political bodies. Only by improving systems and mechanisms can we safeguard the territory against espionage and crimes related to stealing state secrets. From the socio-economic perspective, a large segment of our population suffers from high rents and substandard living conditions. This unanswered question is of utmost importance, particularly when senior mainland officials like Han Zheng have already requested to improve the lives of Hong Kong citizens.

Aside from this, Luo Huining highlighted that Hong Kong's future lies in the integration into China's overall development. China will overtake the US to become the world's largest economy within 10 years, or maybe by 2028 owing to COVID-19 pandemic. Remember that 400 million Chinese, almost larger than US population, have officially been categorized as middle-income. Can you imagine the immense economic opportunity in light of the world-largest economy alongside the greatest size of middle-income population?

Last but not least, community leaders cannot simply lie down and win amid challenges and opportunities. They have to make collective efforts to achieve good governance. Sad but true, we are now facing with the fifth COVID-19 wave. Our officials emphasize the importance of adopting a series of measures to prevent the importation of cases and the spreading of the virus in the community. Yet, during the 88 days with zero local infection cases before the fifth wave, our administration depended on chances and ignored the loopholes of cargo aircrew self-isolation measures. With such kind of governing attitude, how can we combat against COVID-19 pandemic effectively and efficiently, not to mention displaying our advantages and catering to the nation's needs?

In conclusion, Luo's speech had given comprehensive answers to key questions about the city's future. With the enactment of NSL, electoral reforms and successful completion of two major elections, the adoption of One Country, Two Systems enters into a new era. Given the worsening US-China rivalry, we have to embrace opportunities and overcome challenges without hesitation.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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