Wen – District Hanzong
Hong Kong and the Mainland resumed the first phase of quarantine-free customs clearance with effect today (8 January), covering seven ports including the reopened Lok Ma Chau Spur Line/Fook Tin Port, Man Kam Ferry Port, Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal, China Hong Kong City Ferry Terminal, as well as the Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and Shenzhen Bay Port that have been in operation. There are quotas for all three land ports, 35,000 per day at Lok Ma Chau Branch Line/Futian Port, 10,000 in Shenzhen Bay and 5,000 at Man Kam Du, for a total of 50,000.
For citizens under the haze of the epidemic, customs clearance is like Qiu Fengjia's poem: "Return to flying over the birds love the southern branch, sigh for the rest of their lives after the disaster", which means that the flying birds nostalgic for the branches to the south, and those who experience the disaster lament the recovery after the disaster.
In the past three years, Hong Kong's inability to clear customs with the mainland has undoubtedly been a heavy blow. Most Hong Kong businessmen who do business with the mainland have suffered heavy losses in recent years. The hindrance of interpersonal communication between the two places is a pain for many families.
The Central Government immediately optimized customs clearance measures to help Hong Kong's economy recover and improve people's livelihood. On the eve of the Lunar New Year, normal exchanges between the two places have resumed, allowing Hong Kong people to return to their hometowns to visit their families and reunite families between the two places, realizing the long-awaited wish of Hong Kong citizens for reunion, and promoting people-to-people harmony. Hong Kong has achieved the first stage of normal customs clearance with the mainland, and the flow of people and capital from the mainland is expected to return quickly, which can inject impetus into Hong Kong's economic recovery, and all walks of life are optimistic about the future, and it is believed that the current more convenient personnel exchanges between the two places will effectively stimulate Hong Kong's economy.
Hong Kong hometown associations warmly welcomed the customs clearance, saying that this customs clearance reflects the central government's concern for Hong Kong, attaches importance to Hong Kong's people's livelihood and economic development, responds to the long-standing strong demands of the two places, especially the people of Hong Kong, and is conducive to Hong Kong giving play to its unique advantages and promoting Hong Kong's better development. The new measures have been implemented before the Lunar New Year, which can meet the urgent desire of fellow villagers to reunite with their relatives during the traditional festive season, fully demonstrating the concept of putting the people first and caring for the people of Hong Kong.
Goldman Sachs, a US multinational investment banking and financial services company, said in a report that Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries as the mainland lifts epidemic restrictions and restarts its economy, boosting imports and overseas travel, with the boost to Hong Kong's gross domestic product (GDP) reaching 7.6%, the largest beneficiary in the region.
Many analysts expect that the mainland's economic growth this year is expected to rebound to 5% from about 3% last year, becoming a bright spot for the global economy in 2023. Hong Kong has the economic backing of the country, and the resumption of customs clearance between the two places will inject more momentum into Hong Kong's retail, tourism and various industries, and at the same time help Hong Kong to regain its role as an important gateway to the country and gradually regain its status as an international aviation hub.
In the past three years, the two places have basically been "closed", and even though the Hong Kong government introduced stimulus measures such as "job protection" and "electronic consumption vouchers", Hong Kong's unemployment rate was still as high as 5.4%. Many grassroots citizens have no money to live, waiting for the rice to be cooked, and even many middle-class citizens have shrunk their pockets, and even rely on food seeds.
The 20th anniversary of the "free travel" policy, which was implemented in 2003, was a "big gift" from the central government to Hong Kong in 2003 to boost Hong Kong's economy, which was devastated by the Asian financial crisis and the SARS epidemic. The number of mainland visitors to Hong Kong rose exponentially from 6.38 million in 2002 to 51.04 million in 2018.
In the recovery from the disaster, Hong Kong can play a key role in the Greater Bay Area and the Belt and Road, rather than just as a "cheap bulk cargo yard". Of course, customs clearance is the only way for Hong Kong to better integrate into the overall situation of the country, but it is not advisable to put the cart before the horse, and the tourism industry should not go backwards. After customs clearance, Hong Kong's tourism industry should move towards high quality and diversification, attracting tourists to come to Hong Kong to eat, drink and have fun, and also provide them with professional services in medical, cultural and financial aspects, so as to create more added value, and quality is more important than weight.
Copyright statement: This article is the author's original article, the picture material comes from the Internet, the text content of this article is strictly prohibited from illegal reproduction without authorization, if you need to reprint or quote, you must obtain the consent of the author and indicate the source.