Hong Kong in no rush to 'go west'

In order to welcome the go-west delegation, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Xinjiang provinces prepared 527 investment projects, worth 170 billion yuan. By the end of the visit, however, cooperative agreements and letters of intent for only 25 projects, with a total value of 2.2 billion yuan, had been signed. That only 4.7 percent of the targeted projects were signed was pitiful enough, but the fact that this accounted for merely 1.2 percent of the intended investment amount was positively pathetic. Of the investments, Kung Yu-sum's Chinachem Group (華懋集團) committed itself to 880 million yuan for one project in Xinjiang. It was obvious that the other projects were trifling by comparison. It was also obvious how the Hong Kong businesspeople were enacting their own version of "no haste, be patient." Those companies that did manage to secure contracts bargained for discounts.

However, the fact that Hong Kong's growth rate has dropped significantly (6.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year to 2.5 percent in the first quarter of this year) and unemployment has consistently stayed above 4 percent, has people worried that the Hong Kong economy will experience a "hollowing out." Thus, the issue of whether or not to "go west" is a contentious one. Although Hong Kong is "part of China," the situation is not all that different from Taiwan. It is evident that this economic predicatment does not necessarily have anything to do with the "one China" or "two Chinas" issues. Still, Hong Kong businessmen are not so naive as Taiwanese politicians in their understanding of China.

Paul Lin is a political commentator currently based in New York.

Translated by Scudder Smith