My wish for the new year? For Hong Kong to finally embrace change and innovation

The city’s transformation may be cause for unease, but resistance to change will hold back technological development
‘Asia’s world city’ must live up to its name by adopting smart technology, switching to clean energy and finally coming to terms with Covid-19

Peter Kammerer

Published: 6:45am, 28 Dec 2021

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The Kammerer household isn’t a terribly festive place around Christmas. There isn’t a tree or decorations and the only difference from any other day is a German fruit and nut loaf known as a stollen and box of traditional mince pies on a shelf.

The ritual of gift-giving with family and friends was absent, lunch was at an Indian restaurant and my only goodwill gesture was writing a cheque to a non-profit organisation that supports the disabled, elderly and needy.

But being largely indifferent about an occasion that enraptures so many others does not mean I am devoid of hopes and wishes; my thoughts this year are with Hong Kong and what lies in store for the city that has been my home for more than 33 years.

Not in those three decades do I feel Hong Kong has undergone as much transformation as in the past 18 months. It’s not something that can be seen; the famed skyline hasn’t perceptibly changed and infrastructure is largely as it has been.

What’s altered is the city’s governance; Beijing’s implementation of national security laws, its revamping of the electoral system to put “patriots” in charge, and now being obviously in the driver’s seat for much of what is being said and done where local affairs are concerned.

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Hong Kong's revamped electoral system bolsters pro-Beijing influence in key decision-making bodies

This is what the Chinese Communist Party believes is best for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and its people.

It’s a reality that has to be accepted and seen as positive – a challenge for those attuned to more liberal forms of governance. “Foreign interference” is now a frequently-heard phrase used to explain the reason for some of the city’s problems.

Western-style democracy, the political system I was born into, was taught about at school and lived under for the first 25 years of my life, is apparently, as a mainland columnist recently said, unsuitable for Hong Kong as it is “characterised by confrontation and vicious competition”.

My beliefs need modifying and I need more convincing to put them in sync with Beijing’s aims. As a member of a minority group and non-Chinese, it’s not surprising that I have a sense of unease.

Some Hongkongers under British colonial rule considered themselves superior to their mainland Chinese counterparts. They saw themselves as better educated, sophisticated and worldly wise, and their city as vastly more developed.

A view of Hong Kong’s skyline from Kowloon waterfront on December 7. Photo: Bloomberg

That seems to persist in the self-proclaimed title of “Asia’s world city” that adorns government websites more than 24 years after Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty.

It is an anomaly, given how mainland cities like Shenzhen and Shanghai have caught up and overtaken us in terms of technological and innovative development and infrastructure.

Being smug and complacent is reason enough for Beijing to step in. Hong Kong has fallen so far behind when it comes to adoption of digital payment systems, artificial intelligence and clean energy, to name but a few things, that its participation with other cities in the Greater Bay Area may prove challenging.

That was brought home to me when I offered renminbi spare change languishing in a wallet to a friend visiting from Beijing; “What is this?” he asked, baffled.

Slick tech isn’t enough for Hong Kong’s smart city dreams to become reality

In his two years working on the mainland, he had never encountered either banknotes or coins, there being no need for such arcane objects in a place where every financial transaction is done digitally.

Christmas is a time of gift-giving and Hong Kong got its presents early from Beijing in the reforms that were introduced. Whether we agree with them or not, they have already wiped the smugness off some faces and, with direction, will hopefully shock this city out of its complacency.

I’m anticipating a new year in which Hong Kong finally embraces with fervour the digital revolution, pivots resolutely in the direction of becoming a smart city and starts putting electric buses and delivery trucks on the roads.

All that, and coming to terms and living with Covid-19, no matter what form it takes. It’s the least Hong Kong and its people should expect in 2022.

Peter Kammerer is a senior writer at the Post