Four months of wide-ranging discussion between government officials, businesses and academics culminated on Monday in an action agenda on Hong Kong that for the first time defines the special administrative region's role in the nation's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).

 

The 207-point report calls for further integration of the two economies and action to maximize Hong Kong's advantages as a global financial, trade, service and logistics center.

 

The report is indeed timely.

 

It is widely believed the mainland will enter a new development stage as its markets open more broadly to foreign investors following the five-year anniversary of its World Trade Organization membership. And international investors have verified that notion through accelerated investment and a new round of mainland fever.

 

As the mainland's fourth- largest trading partner and its premier overseas investor, Hong Kong benefited greatly from the mainland's economic miracle of the 1980s and 1990s. It surely cannot afford to lose ground in the current decade.

 

But some local economists warn that the city could be marginalized if it does not adapt and evolve. They point to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which launched the world's first yuan futures market, and Singapore, which last year began the world's first A share-based futures index.

 

Why not Hong Kong, they ask, so near the mainland and boasting respected financial markets?

 

The report addresses the question by placing Hong Kong's future development in a national context and making recommendations on how the city can maximize its leverage in China's international market.

 

Among many other measures, the report advocates establishing a futures market trading in mainland commodities, allowing mainlanders to buy Hong Kong-traded shares and permitting local banks to hold larger stakes in their mainland peers.

 

If the report is translated into action, Hong Kong could leap over other markets to become a proxy for the mainland.

 

However, it would be a colossal mistake to equate economic integration with "mainlandizing" Hong Kong.

 

On the contrary, Hong Kong should retain and improve its internationalism and rule of law with utmost effort.

 

Indeed, Hong Kong's uniqueness compared to other Chinese cities lies in its global vision and the open markets it has nurtured through generations.

 

On Tuesday, the US Heritage Foundation rated Hong Kong as the world's freest economy for 13 years in a row.

 

That is precisely the charm of Hong Kong.

 

(China Daily January 18, 2007)