HK business people must not cling to their privileges

YESTERDAY in Beijing a ChineseManufacturers' Association (CMA) delegationmet separately with Jia Qinglin, Chairman ofthe Chinese People's Political ConsultativeConference, and Zhou Bo, a Deputy Director of theHong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. After themeetings, Lam Tai Tai--fai, the legislator that representsthe CMA, acknowledged they had told Jia Qinglin thatHong Kong's functional constituencies were of suchuse that it was unnecessary to abolish them and thatthey were worried about the impact of rising wages onproductivity and the business environment on themainland. The CMA representatives' views are quiteout of keeping with the general trends of national andglobal economic development.

The global economic situation has changed agreat deal since the financial tsunami.

The US and developed European countries areunable even to fend for themselves. China, which hasrelied on its exports to the US and Europe to fuel itseconomic growth, must make adjustments.Furthermore, China's savings rate is high. The ratio ofits domestic consumption to its GDP is only 50% ,much lower than the US' and European countries'(about 70%). Furthermore, it has a favourable balanceof trade. Therefore, the Americans often pressureBeijing to revalue the yuan. It is China's "post post--financialtsunami policy" to increase domestic consumption,boost domestic demand and reduce its reliance onexports. To increase consumption, it is necessary topush up wages.

Not only has the global economic situationchanged. China's domestic situation has changed too.The rich rich--poor gap is what has worriedmainlanders most in recent years. "Mass incidents"and demonstrations against local authorities haveoften been reported. The wide rich rich--poor gap is a majorfactor in social instability.

It is the nation's general social policy to narrow therich rich--poor gap.

According to CCaaiijjiinngg GGuuoojjiiaa ZZhhoouukkaann, a mainland, publication, copies of a consultative draft plan forincome distribution reform in the twelfth five five--yearperiod have been sent to top officials of somegovernment departments and top managers of somestate state--owned enterprises. It is mainly about deterringpay rises at monopolies by demanding that they turnover more of their profits to the state and encouragingpay rises at others by granting them tax and chargebreaks. The central government aims at doublingwages in five years.

It seems clear from the draft plan that the centralgovernment considers it imperative to have low low--paidworkers get higher wages. It is not yet known howvigorously it will carry out this policy, but the generalpolicy direction is presumably irreversible.

Hong Kong business people are accustomed toliving under an umbrella of political privileges. Theyrely on functional constituencies' privileges tosafeguard their interests. However, Hong Kong peoplewho have factories on the mainland must realiselow low--paid mainland workers' interests and the nation'soverall interests override theirs. Allowing workersbetter pay is an important part of China's economicrestructuring. The days are gone when they could takeadvantage of cheap labour to make money.Businesses that fail to improve their productivity byrestructuring themselves are bound to be knocked out.

Hong Kong, a developed economy, ought tocontribute to the mainland's restructuring. What HongKong people running businesses on the mainlandought to do is to adapt themselves to the new policy assoon as possible. They should, relying on theadvantages of the systems of Hong Kong (a developedregion), upgrade their operations and make them moreproductive. They ought not to rely on their privileges orturn to mainland leaders for "benefits" whenever theyencounter difficulties.

There is already a timetable for electing the ChiefExecutive and all the Legislative Council members byuniversal suffrage. It is certain that, in 2020, thefunctional constituency system designed to protectbusiness people's interests will be no more. Thehistoric tide of Hong Kong's democratisation is flowing.Hong Kong's constitutional system will not remainunchanged. Business people must adapt themselvesto changes. They must rely on their own efforts andfield candidates, who must compete fairly with others.Only if they do so will they be represented in thelegislature. It is futile for them to cling to their privilegesand look for the central government's favours. Theywill only fare worse and worse if they do so.

明報英語網「雙語社評」

english.mingpao.com/critic.htm

明報社評

2010.07.21

世界在變國家在變港商勿死抱特權不變

中華廠商聯合會訪問團昨日訪京，分別會見全國政協主席賈慶林及港澳辦副主任周波，會後，廠商會立法會議員林大輝承認，他們曾向賈慶林提出，香港的功能組別有存在價值，沒有必要取消，亦對內地工資及最低工資的上漲對營商環境及生產力的影響表示關注。廠商會代表的說法，與世界及國家經濟發展的大勢，嚴重脫節。

金融海嘯之後，世界經濟大勢已經變了。

歐美等發達國家自身難保，中國過去依靠出口到歐美以帶動經濟的模式，不得不調整。此外，中國儲蓄率高，國民消費開支只佔GDP 約五成，與歐美佔七成的比率有很大差距，加上貿易順差，引來美國對人民幣升值頻頻施壓。中國要提升內需、增加國民消費，並減少對出口的依賴，成為「後金融海嘯」的新國策；而增加國民消費的大前提，是國民工資收入水平必須提高。

除了世界經濟大勢外，中國內部的局勢也在改變。

貧富懸殊是近年內地最關注的問題，群體性事件叢生，示威抗議衝擊地方政府部門時有所聞，造成社會不穩的最主要原因之一，就是貧富差距過於懸殊。

縮減貧富差距，是國家的社會政策大方向。

內地《財經國家周刊》報道， 「十二?五規劃」有關收入分配改革方案的「徵求意見稿」（類似香港的政策諮詢文件）已提交到相關政府部門及國企高層案頭，內容主要是透過提高上繳的比例，限制壟斷性企業的工資增長，同時透過減免稅費的方式，提高非壟斷性行業員工的工資增長，目標是在55 年內倍增。

從「徵求意見稿」看來，內地增加低收入工人工資，已是勢在必行。雖然最終落實力度仍是未知之數，但政策的大方向相信已是不可逆轉。

香港工商界習慣了活在政治特權保護傘之下，依仗功能組別的特權，維護自身的利益，但在內地設廠的港商必須認清，中國低收入工人的利益、國家整體發展的利益，遠較港商的一己利益重要。提高工人工資，是內地經濟轉型的重要部分，只懂利用廉價勞工賺錢的年代已經過去了，不懂轉型提升競爭力的企業注定將被淘汰。

香港是已發展經濟體，理應對內地的升級轉型作出貢獻，內地港商應做的是盡早配合政策，利用香港已發展地區的制度優勢，提升生產力，升級換代，而不是每當遇上困難時，就想起依仗自身的政治特權，向領導人「攞着數」。

至於香港本地，雙普選已有時間表，目前保護工商界利益的傳統功能組別選舉模式，到2020 年肯定不會再存在。香港民主化的歷史潮流已經向前滾動，政制不可能停留不動。工商界要做的，應該是配合轉變，憑藉自己的努力，參與選舉，藉着公平公正的競爭，贏得權力，才可以在議會有代言人，保障自己的利益。如果仍然戀棧特權，期望中央照顧，只會心勞日絀，徒勞無功。

Glossary

monopoly

a company that has complete control of theproduct or service it provides.

overridebe more important than.

look for hope for.