Opinion | Old Hong Kong has no future? Good, merge it with Shenzhen

And self-destructing? Was it like the more than six months of constant citywide riots, arson, beatings, killings, attempted murders, public vandalism (against two transport arteries, the MTR railway system and the international airport)? Or some other kind of self-destruction?

Whatever the latter, give me that rather than the 2019 mayhem. Many foreigners still fantasise, fetishise and propagandise that what happened then was a perfectly peaceful great liberation movement ruthlessly crushed by totalitarian communists. Well, they can smoke whatever they like, but I don’t do that kind of stuff, not any more.

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Someone remind our dear critics how the US and Canadian governments, respectively, dealt with the one-day January 6, 2021 “insurrection” on Capitol Hill and the weeks-long truckers’ protest, which really was peaceful.

And they complain about Hong Kong’s repression? As a century-old spy hub for foreign powers? Not any more. As a site to foment unrest and exert foreign interference? Sorry, no can do.

But if you don’t do all that submissively, you are killing your own economy and financial hub status, the critics charge.

Or, they would say, the lawmakers aren’t doing their job but just keeping in with Beijing. Well, their wonderfully “democratic” predecessors weren’t doing their job either other than antagonising Beijing at the drop of a hat for more than two decades, and keeping in with, getting trained by, and receiving financial support from the Western powers, especially Washington. Where did all that get us? 2019. You want more of that for Hong Kong? Thanks, but no thanks!

The fact of the matter is that Hong Kong’s economy lives or dies by that of mainland China, no matter the external political circumstances. Furthermore, increasingly nasty intentions from the United States towards China mean Hong Kong would have been collateral damage one way or another.

So, all things being equal, it’s perfectly wise of Beijing to take back control.

Is Hong Kong going down the drain? I don’t know. It could be, or not. Maybe it’s just getting started. Who knows? I can’t predict the future; I am just glad so many foreign, wise individuals know all about Hong Kong’s future.

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However, I imagine all those “I told you so” foreign critics and media hacks are already salivating over the prospect of the city’s imminent demise, and then they could shed even more tears for us. More tissues, please!

One thing that’s actually happening is that both ordinary Hongkongers and their government are all looking towards, and buying things up north.

Local retail shops and food markets complain people are going across the border on daily trips to buy cheaper and better quality stuff. The government is busy planning and building up the northern territories to connect directly with Shenzhen.

That’s not a choice but a necessity. The whole time Hong Kong’s Science Park and Cyberport have been languishing over the past two decades, dozens of world-beating household corporate names have emerged and turned into business empires to dominate not only the domestic market, but also some globally – so much so that most of them are now being sanctioned by the United States!

Many of them, not by coincidence, are headquartered in Shenzhen.

So, 2019 may have been a blessing in disguise. It has made Hongkongers realise, once and for all, that they can’t defy history, geography and economy – their whole destiny – but that they have always been tied to the north, and not the West. Now all the smoke and mirrors have been cleared, and we can see clearly, Greater Shenzhen incorporating Hong Kong will be inevitable, even though the latter should be able to retain its separate identity and function as a municipality, being semi-autonomous and self-governing.

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But yes, old Hong Kong as a plaything of the West is no more. Once foreigners learn to live with that new reality and accept the city as an integral and inseparable part of China, they may come back to learn there is still money to be made and an easy and privileged lifestyle to enjoy. It’s just that they won’t be calling the shots. Well, history rolls on. It’s “the rise of the rest”; haven’t you heard?

Meanwhile, my Tracker Fund shares, code 2800 – which is just about the only stock (actually an ETF) I buy from Hong Kong these days – has been almost halved from when the Hang Seng Index was around 30,000. Well, good, it’s so cheap I will just buy more this week.

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