Hong Kong must remain useful to survive as a critical piece of machinery in China's modernisation. Hong Kong was able to continue as a British colony because it was useful to the Chinese Communist Party at various times as a refuge, trading port, fund-raiser and investor. How will Hong Kong be useful in the future?
It may require a new mindset. In financial services, Hong Kong's usefulness is evident in ways some people didn't expect. Many assumed Beijing would ensure Shanghai's dominance. However, the reality is that Hong Kong is still uniquely useful.
For example, its special status plays a critical role in enabling all sorts of offshore renminbi business because while it is a part of 'one country', it operates a separate system of market, regulation and law. Beijing can depend on Hong Kong to play a critical part in increasing the use of the renminbi outside the mainland to gradually internationalise its currency so that, eventually, it will become a global settlement, investment and reserve currency.
Moreover, Hong Kong is not only becoming a listing centre for international companies doing business in China and the rest of Asia, it may well become a commodities centre too, with the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange starting trading next year.
Hong Kong's contribution to the nation's industrialisation from the 1980s is well recognised today. Local entrepreneurs played an important role in the mainland's export production, especially in transforming the Pearl River Delta region into one of the world's most productive manufacturing zones. Hong Kong and Guangdong now have a new mission - to upgrade the regional economy into high-value activities based on management, product design and technological innovations, rather than to compete on price alone.
This mission has a less discussed corollary - the activities must also be resource and energy efficient, and low in pollution. Policymakers in Beijing know that China's development will run up against depleting resources. This means the developed areas must lead the new transformational charge.