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How can Hong Kong society achieve "common prosperity"?

2021-11-26T06:12:12.847Z


One in four Hong Kong people lives below the poverty line. The latest "Report on Hong Kong's Poverty Situation in 2020" issued by the SAR government shows that the poverty population and poverty rate before policy intervention last year were respectively higher than in 2009 and 2010.


One in four Hong Kong people lives below the poverty line.

The latest "Report on Hong Kong's Poverty Situation in 2020" issued by the SAR government shows that the poor population and poverty rate before policy intervention last year hit new highs since 2009 and 2010 respectively.

While the number of poor people is rising, the number of rich people is also increasing.

According to the "Hong Kong Multi-millionaires Survey 2020" published by Citibank at the beginning of the year, the number of "multi-millionaires" in Hong Kong increased by more than 2% over 2019, reaching 515,000.


But for the migrant workers, the "disparity between the rich and the poor" can be described as a normal social reality. It is not hoped that the SAR government should follow the mainland's "common prosperity" policy to expand the middle class, and even set the basic living wage. , The highest standard of working hours and universal retirement protection are already unimaginable.

However, when the mainland has already sounded the rallying cry for "shared prosperity," Hong Kong really has no reason to continue to avoid the "reform" of capitalism.


The government's housing policy has not been effective, the problem of social structural poverty remains unsolved, and the low-income class living in sub-divided housing has become the victims.

"'Prosperity together' is not equal wealth, nor is it rich at the same time, but you can get rich first, make me rich later, and make me rich. But it cannot become—your wealth is built on my poverty, yours Continued prosperity is based on my continued poverty. Even in a capitalist society, this kind of thing shouldn’t happen.” Hong Weimin, deputy to the National People’s Congress of the Hong Kong District and Chief of Hong Kong Affairs Contact of Qianhai Administration Bureau, explained to “Hong Kong 01” what is meant by “common rich".

In August of this year, when Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, who is the President of the State, presided over the tenth meeting of the Central Finance and Economics Committee, he officially listed "common prosperity" as the center of the CCP's second century of work.

There are different interpretations and questions about this, and some people even think that the mainland should return to the principle of "communism."

But in fact, "shared prosperity" is a government governance goal that solves "uneven development and unfair distribution", and is used to construct a socially fair distribution system-to build a basic system for the coordination of primary distribution, redistribution, and three-time distribution. Arrangements, increase taxation, social security, transfer payments and other adjustments and improve accuracy; and create more inclusive and fair conditions, so that the general public can share economic development dividends through hard work, and ultimately improve the economic structure-lower (poverty alleviation), Enlarge the middle (expand the middle-class population), and limit the height (limit the income of high-income groups).

However, due to historical impressions and one-sided perceptions, many Hong Kong people would question whether their first reaction to "shared prosperity" is to return to the path of "communism", or whether they believe that related concepts are in line with the capitalist system of Hong Kong. No relationship."

But apart from political ideology, for Hong Kong, which is deeply trapped by poverty disparity and social division, "shared prosperity" may be the solution to many social problems.

However, the previous Hong Kong governments seem to be more inclined to serve capital than to build a "fair and just" society; the general public has no extra effort to think about how to improve the quality of life, and is more enthusiastic about how to improve the quality of life through property speculation or Invest in stocks to get rich.

It can be said that in order to promote "shared prosperity" in Hong Kong, there is a lack of upper-level construction and a lack of social consensus.

The CCP expresses "common prosperity" as the prosperity of all people. "It is not the prosperity of a few people, nor is it uniform egalitarianism. It is necessary to promote common prosperity in stages."

(Getty Images)

Common Prosperity is neither "capital" nor "society"

However, if the government only serves "capital" and allows the "native disease" of "capitalism"-the disparity between the rich and the poor to continue to worsen, the backlog of deep-seated contradictions will always push society to the "cliff" of division.

In an interview with "Hong Kong 01", Chairman Wu Qiubei of the Federation of Trade Unions pointed out that taking capitalist governments such as European and American countries as examples, they serve capital to a certain extent and allow capital to compete for economic efficiency through the free market. However, in the process, Some people occupy the prerequisites for development, sacrifice the development opportunities of others, and form uneven development. Over time, it will lead to social conflicts such as social polarization and the decline of the middle class.

Hong Kong also pursues a capitalist system and needs to follow the game of market development, but this does not mean that the SAR government should tolerate the persistence of social contradictions.

"We have to return to the most basic question, why do we have a government?" As Hong Weimin said, "The ultimate legitimacy of a government lies in the fact that the citizens it governs have a safe and happy life. No matter what. What kind of doctrine is you, even if it is the ancient royalism, he will say that he loves the people like a son and acts as a herdsman on behalf of the heavens."

So, what is a safe and happy life?

Hong Weimin further explained that citizens will not be limited by their income and assets, and will not receive proper education, medical care, housing and other basic living security. "Although the definition of happiness is different for everyone, I don’t think anyone would say that people sleep on the street. Being outside is happiness. No one would say that having no money to see a doctor is happiness. This is everyone's basic requirement of life."

Wu Qiubei also pointed out that the pursuit of a better life should be everyone's basic right, that is, to strive for a better life through various methods and conditions.

The "shared prosperity" is precisely by constructing a fair social distribution system to protect the basic rights of citizens and create a fairer development environment so that more people can lead a better life.

This is undoubtedly an ideal social environment that Hong Kong society lacks.

Hong Weimin, deputy to the National People's Congress and Chief Liaison Officer for Hong Kong Affairs of the Qianhai Administration, pointed out that if the government arbitrarily invokes the "Land Resumption Ordinance", it will have a great impact on the entire market.

(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

How to live a good life with high housing expenses?

It is undeniable that the economic development thinking of "big market, small government" that has been pursued for many years has indeed turned Hong Kong into a wealthy city with a GDP of 344.7 billion U.S. dollars (2020), but at the same time, there are more than 1,500 people. Sleeping on the streets, there are more than 200,000 people living in sub-divided houses and cage homes, and more than a million people are trapped in working poverty and intergenerational poverty.

In contrast, the above-mentioned basic rights of life may be a kind of extravagant hopes and illusions.

Li Junrong, a lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Humanities and Design at the Faculty of Professional and Continuing Education of the Polytechnic University, felt helpless: "Given the wealth of our city, why can the average working hours be the longest in the world? Why do sub-divided houses and cage homes still exist It’s actually incredible."

Among the many livelihood issues, "housing" is the most prominent.

"Hong Kong is so proud that there will be money if there is a building, and there will never be a building without money." The vice chairman of the DAB, Zhang Guojun, believes that the specific manifestation of the disparity between the rich and the poor in Hong Kong lies in the housing problem. The most direct impact is no more than the hundreds of thousands of sub-house tenants and public housing waiting residents.

They have a meager income and have to bear the high cost of renting a subdivided apartment, and they live with their children in a subdivided apartment of dozens of square feet.

Although it is finally "covered by tiles", living in such a small and cramped space will not only cause a lot of changes in daily life, but also directly affect the physical and mental health, especially detrimental to the growth of children.

And because high rents have already accounted for most of the family’s income, they cannot devote more resources to support their children’s studies and compete with higher classes. This in turn will create "intergenerational poverty," let alone lead a good life.

These problems are not unrelated to the government's past mistakes in land policy and housing policy.

For example, the housing policies of successive governments have always been dominated by "home ownership thinking," and they have no intention of stabilizing land and property prices through a large number of auctions of land and the construction of public housing.

Even though the government set a ten-year housing supply target of 480,000 units in 2014, none of the past six years has been able to achieve the initial supply target.

Wu Qiubei believes that the problems of high land prices and high property prices have aggravated the problems of developers' monopoly on land and cross-industry, hampered the diversified development of Hong Kong's industries, and gradually narrowed the "upper" space for citizens.

Hong Weimin also said frankly, "If our society will always only have financial or legal people, will have the opportunity to "prosper", then you (social economy) will always have problems."

Wu Qiubei, chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions, believes that the government's policy thinking for poverty alleviation should be "helping the poor, helping the intelligence, and helping the will."

(Photo by Gong Jiasheng)

The government's poverty alleviation thinking is short-sighted and passive

Why is the "gap between the rich and the poor" unresolved?

One of the key points is that the Hong Kong Government's poverty alleviation thinking is short-sighted and passive.

"The (government) has not done any poverty alleviation work at all. It just drew a poverty line and let it float all the way." Wu Qiubei criticized that the authorities lacked the idea of ​​actively guiding poverty alleviation.

In 2012, Liang Zhenying was elected as the chief executive and reset the poverty alleviation committee to formulate and review poverty alleviation policies.

However, the committee has been established for more than 9 years and has followed the poverty line drawn by the concept of "relative poverty"-half of the median household income is used as the main poverty line. It has been repeatedly questioned and failed to reflect the actual situation. The Situation Report is always lagging behind.

For example, the latest "Report on Hong Kong Poverty in 2020" published earlier (November 10) showed that Hong Kong recorded 1.653 million poor people last year, and the poverty rate was as high as 23.6%.

However, the SAR government is still obsessed with the "digital game" and emphasizes that the overall poverty population and poverty rate have dropped sharply to 553,500 and 7.9% after the intervention of the policy.

However, the effect of the so-called "poverty alleviation" is mainly attributed to the government's non-constant subsidy programs. For example, the 10,000 yuan cash distribution program helped 266,700 people get out of poverty, public housing rent subsidies helped 265,900 people get out of poverty, and other one-time measures helped 120,900 people get out of poverty. .

However, these measures are not continuous and long-term, and can only be used to alleviate the urgent needs of the public under the new crown virus epidemic.

Behind this short-sighted poverty alleviation policy, except for those who dare not face "absolute poverty", and the alienation of the capitalist system, the governing elites have formed a stereotype that the "poverty problem" must exist and cannot be resolved. Naturally, they will not work hard to eradicate poverty. Instead, they will promote "subsidyism" and use more non-constant cash benefits in an attempt to make more people seem to "get out of poverty."

Wu Qiubei described this kind of "dynamic poverty alleviation" thinking as very backward: "Since poverty is dynamic, as long as some measures are adopted, some people will be lifted out of poverty. You will never find the poor. But the truth is not the case. Working poverty People, elderly poverty, and intergenerational poverty have always existed, and you need to follow up and follow up for a long time."

Li Junrong, a lecturer in the School of Professional and Continuing Education at PolyU, questioned why the government did not directly raise the minimum wage, but instead assumed the cost on behalf of the capital.

(Photo by Ou Jiale)

Break the capital monopoly and enrich the industrial structure

There have always been comments on the issue of lack of commitment by the SAR government, and if the authorities can uphold the belief in "common prosperity", break the capital monopoly, enrich the industrial structure, reorganize the distribution system, and activate the upper ladder, I believe that everyone can share prosperity.

The first task is to release land resources in order to provide suitable housing for the citizens and inject development momentum into the economy.

"Break the land monopoly, and break the current (government) approvals, planning (land) and other administrative inefficiencies." Wu Qiubei believes that most of the land resources are currently controlled by a small handful of large financial resources, and the SAR government can use more Many land reserves can stabilize prices, and the large amount of land stockpiled by developers can also be recovered through the "Land Resumption Ordinance". "Whether it is the "Land Resumption Ordinance" or development land, I think it is necessary to break the monopoly of vested interests (groups)."

In fact, there have long been voices from all walks of life asking the SAR government to actively exercise its due power to re-dominate the supply of land.

However, the authorities often excuse themselves on the grounds that arbitrary use of the "Land Resumption Ordinance" may damage the "private property rights" that are closely related to the market economy.

Hong Weimin also supports this argument. He believes that Hong Kong's private property rights are sacred and inviolable. He is worried that excessive land resumption will cause market fluctuations. Therefore, he advocates that the government and land holders share the benefits to establish a community of interests.

However, no matter how land is repossessed, the key lies in whether the government can play a leading role in it and no longer allow large consortia to take it.

When the land monopoly problem is alleviated and the government actively develops and utilizes it, it can provide more land resources for innovative industries, thereby broadening the industrial structure, breaking the cross-industry monopoly caused by chaebols, and creating more diversified and high-income employment opportunities.

Zhang Guojun, vice chairman of the DAB, pointed out that the new government has the responsibility to lead citizens of different social strata to discuss relevant policies and build social consensus.

(Profile picture)

"Poverty alleviation, intellectual support, aspiration support"

As for poverty, Wu Qiubei suggested that the SAR government should refer to the poverty alleviation practices in the Mainland, formulate "poverty alleviation" goals, and then cooperate with a complete and step-by-step poverty alleviation plan: first, conduct a census, establish a file for poor households, and track their living conditions; Second, encourage more people to be self-reliant, provide them with skills training and vocational training, so that they can "produce blood" by themselves and have the ability to improve themselves; again, supplemented by corresponding social welfare policies to reduce their basic living burden.

Only by completing these three steps can they share the benefits of social development.

""Helping the wisdom, helping the will" means to make them (the poor households) want to change; the other is the intellectual wisdom, that is, to enable them (the poor households) to "produce blood by themselves" and get rid of poverty." Wu Qiubei add.

On the other hand, when the SAR government reforms the basic system arrangements for the coordination of primary, secondary, and tertiary distributions, it also needs to adjust the market and allocate resources reasonably so that the grassroots can receive appropriate education, medical care, housing, etc. Basic living security.

Li Junrong suggested that the government should start by raising the minimum wage to protect the basic living rights of citizens, instead of using the "Working Family Allowance (WFA) Scheme" to bear the cost on behalf of the employer. The government does not directly raise the minimum wage? Because this requires employers to directly find the number. Now the government uses a tight surplus to help employers cover costs."

The disparity between the rich and the poor in Hong Kong is quite alarming. A single relative poverty line is a complete underestimation of the poor population in Hong Kong.

(Profile picture / Photo by Wang Junhao)

Establish a fairer social distribution system

Wu Qiubei also pointed out that the Federation of Trade Unions earlier proposed that the government add a third level to the original two-tier tax system, mainly for large consortia with profits of more than 100 million yuan, from the current 16.5% to 17.5%. The impact of SMEs is limited, but it can make a profit for the world, giving the government more room for social welfare policies and distribution. This will not increase the business costs of SMEs at all."

However, the community has different disputes over the government's tax increase, and some people worry that the measures may affect the investment environment in Hong Kong.

Zhang Guojun believes that the new government (July 1, 2022) has the responsibility to lead citizens of different social strata to discuss relevant policies, build social consensus, adjust systems and policies, and make the entire society more fair and just.

But as Wu Qiubei described, in the past, Hong Kong officials were a bit "afraid" and not enough to be responsible. However, "this (official) culture is changing, and we have seen the government more courageously launching different policies."

Establishing a fair social distribution system and satisfying the citizens' pursuit of a better life...The SAR government will undoubtedly have many difficulties to overcome if the SAR government wants to transform "shared wealth" from fantasy into reality.

However, as long as the government abandons the mentality of serving capital in the past and returns to the people-centered attitude of starting politics, it is upright and solid, and long-term success, "shared prosperity" is also expected to be achieved.

Wu Qiubei has signed up to participate in the 7th Legislative Council Direct Election on Hong Kong Island East.

Candidates in the same district also include the New Democratic Party Liao Tiancheng, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong Liang Xi, and China Science and Technology Supervisory Chairman Pan Zhuohong.

Zhang Guojun has signed up to participate in the election of the electoral committee. For the list of candidates from the same sector, please refer to the Hong Kong 01 election website.

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-11-26

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