HK's competitiveness

THE Chinese Academy of Social Sciences hasunveiled its 2010 Blue Book on Urban Competitiveness. According to the survey of294 Chinese cities above the prefectural level, HongKong still ranks first in overall competitiveness.However, its advantages are becoming less and lessdistinct, and it is losing its lead over such cities asShenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing.

Thanks to its own characteristics, Hong Kong willlag behind some mainland cities sooner or later. HongKong is so much smaller and less populous thanShanghai and Beijing. If the mainland economy keepsgrowing, it will not be surprising for the two cities tooutstrip the SAR in economic scale.

The question is whether Hong Kong will do its bestin the areas within its control to keep itscompetitiveness up. Will the SAR's overallcompetitiveness still rank first in China in a few years ifit continues to live off its past gains instead of strivingto make progress? That is a concern.

The Blue Book says Hong Kong is faced withthree major challenges. First, it lacks technologicalinnovation, and its brain drain is serious. Second, it isfaced with competition from cities on the mainland andin other parts of the world. Third, Hong Kong'scompetitiveness is diminishing because industrialupgrading is slower here than in other parts of theworld. One may say the report hits the nail on the head.Since its reversion to Chinese sovereignty, HongKong has lacked new economic growth areas, andsome of its industries have become less competitive.Take its logistics industry, on which its status as aninternational shipping centre depends. Before thehandover, Hong Kong ranked first in the world incontainer throughput. In the wake of the handover,some principal officials of the SAR government tried inmany ways to block cross-boarder infrastructureprojects and, as a result, Hong Kong failed to beginopportunely to integrate economically with Guangdongand, in particular, with the Pearl River Delta.Meanwhile, Guangzhou and Shenzhen tried hard tocatch up with Hong Kong by developing their containerport facilities. Now, the top five container ports in theworld, ranked in descending order, are Singapore,Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Judging by the momentum with which Shenzhen andGuangzhou are developing, it is only a matter of timebefore they surpass Hong Kong.

Technological innovation depends on scientificresearch, in which Hong Kong clearly lags behind.Hong Kong's funding for scientific research amountsonly to 0.6% of its GDP. This percentage is muchsmaller than Israel's (4.5%), America's (2.7%) and themainland's (1.4% ). The SAR government hastransferred $18 billion to the University GrantCommittee, which has set up a Research EndowmentFund to provide local universities with researchfunding. Though the amount is not exactly enormous,good results can be achieved if research projects arewell planned. Nevertheless, there is no sign that thegovernment regards it as one of its top priorities tofoster technological innovation.

In 2007, when Chief Executive Donald Tsangrestructured the administration, the Commerce,Industry and Technology Bureau was renamed theCommerce and Economic Development Bureau.

People in the industrial sector then said, "Hong Kongtechnology has disappeared." The government hassuggested that Hong Kong should strive to develop sixindustries, including "innovation and technology".However, it has yet to take measures to foster"government-academia-business" cooperation to helpdevelop technological applications.

Hong Kong's financial market has long been itspride. However, as it has long offered few vehiclesother than shares, it cannot be put on a par with NewYork's or London's. In those markets, all kinds offinancial products are traded. Nylonkong, which isoften on Hong Kong officials' lips, is only an illusivephrase for self-hypnotisation.

It is thirteen years since Hong Kong reverted toChinese sovereignty. Hong Kong still has advantagesover mainland cities, but it must not just live off its pastgains. In short, it is anything but heartening thatHong Kong is still more competitive than any otherChinese city, for globalisation has brought about suchfierce competition that a city will either forge ahead orfall behind. Mainland cities are rapidly emerging, andSingapore casts menacing eyes on Hong Kong.

Unless Hong Kong makes progress, it will beovertaken by mainland cities as the hare is by thetortoise in the fable.

香港吃老本內外夾攻競爭力響警號

中國社會科學院發表的《2010 年中國城市競爭力藍皮書：中國城市競爭力報告》（下稱報告），在全國294個地級以上城市進行總體研究發現，香港的綜合競爭力仍然排行第一；不過，報告指出，香港的優勢愈來愈不明顯，與深圳、上海、北京等城市的差距，愈來愈小。香港與內地城市比較，基於一些主觀條件，香港遲早都會落後。香港的土地與人口相差太遠了，只要內地經濟持續發展，上海和北京在經濟規模超越香港並不為奇。

問題是，在一些可以控制的因素，香港是否已經做得夠好，以保持競爭力於不墜？如果香港繼續吃老本，依然不思進取，則數年之後，香港綜合競爭力能否續居全國首位，值得關注。

報告提到香港面臨3 大挑戰，（1）技術創新不足、人才嚴重流失；（2）面臨內地和國際城市競爭；（3）全球產業升級較快，香港產業升級相對緩慢，競爭優勢下降。這3 大挑戰，可謂一語中的。

回歸以來，香港經濟缺乏新增長點，一些產業逐漸失去優勢，以支撐香港作為國際航運中心的物流業為例，回歸前香港的貨櫃箱吞吐量高踞世界第一；回歸後，特區政府個別主要官員諸多阻撓香港與內地的基建，使香港在與廣東省，特別是與珠三角在經濟的整合上，失去先機。深圳、廣州的貨櫃港口設施急起直追，現在全球貨櫃運輸排名前5 名，依次是新加坡、上海、香港、深圳和廣州。而以深圳、廣州的發展勢頭，超過香港已經是早晚的事。

此外，技術創新所倚賴科技研究，香港明顯落後。香港在科研所投入資源，只佔國民生產總值的0.6%，遠遠落後於以色列的4.5%、美國的2.7%、中國大陸的1.4%等，但是特區政府撥出180 億元給教資會，成立科研基金，協助各家大學的科研工作，縱使資源不算多，只要有良好領導規劃，理應可以做出一點成績。只是看不到政府把創新科技視為重點之一。

2007 年行政長官曾蔭權調整部門架構時，把原來的工商及科技局改名為商務及經濟發展局，被業界形容為「香港科技失蹤了」。政府提出來的所謂六大優勢產業，其中有創新科技，但是迄今未見有配套措施推動「政府、學界、商界」結合，以協助科技應用的發展。至於被視為「鎮港之寶」的金融業，長期以來獨沽一味以股票為主，與紐約、倫敦金融市場品種的多樣化、多元化，根本不可同日而語，掛在港官嘴邊的「紐倫港」，只是自我催眠的虛幻想像而已。

回歸13 年來，香港相對於內地城市仍然有優勢，但是不能只靠吃老本。總之，香港在中國城市競爭力比較中仍然獨佔鰲頭，一點也不值得欣喜，因為在全球一體化的競爭環境中，不進則退。內地城市正在急速冒起，新加坡也在虎視眈眈，香港如果再停滯不前，龜兔賽跑寓言的結局，就會在內地城市與香港之間上演。

每周一音標

《明報英語網》逢星期二推出「每周一音標」，以視像短片模式教授國際音標，真人發音，歡迎瀏覽網址：english.mingpao.com

Glossary

hit the nail on the headbe exactly right.

anything butdefinitely not.

hearteninggiving somebody encouragement andhappiness.