The Mainland is Our Strength
29 June 2002

Our District leaders - led by DG Johnson Chu and DGE Gloria Chan - would have met quite a few RI leaders at the RI Convention just concluded in Barcelona. They would have echanged views on Hong Kong's strengths and weaknesses as a city to host an RI annual convention or for that matter any world class convention.

Our strengths are many and well known. To start with, we have excellent infrastructure, including a modern airport which has won the World's Best Airport Award for two consecutive years, world-class conference and exhibition venues and facilities, efficient city transport systems including the excellent and reliable city-airport connection, attractive tourism spots with wholesome entertainment, and modern hotel accomodation at competitive prices. More importantly, our infrastructure is backed up by an abundant supply of business and professional support services, a skilled work force with top language abilities, a government committed to being business friendly and to making Hong Kong Asia's World City, no VAT, no exchange control, almost zero tariffs, and wide choices of cusines in quality and in style. We are simply the best in the region.

Perhaps the single most important strength and one to which Evanston has not appeared to have given sufficient weight so far, is our unrivalled location - we are at the doorstep of Mainland China.

Just as Hong Kong is the gateway to China in trade and commerce, Hong Kong can well be and will be Rotary's gateway to China, in more than one way. RI and Rotary clubs can usefully use Hong Kong to take to China the service that the people of China very much need and in the process put Rotary clearly and unmistakably on the roadmap to China.

We have seen how the Lions Clubs International (LCI) has been guided by members of their District 303 (Hong Kong and Macau) in taking the services of LCI to the people in China, culminating in the establishment of two Lions clubs in China in May this year. It strongly suggests that when it comes to establishing service clubs in the Mainland, as with trade and commerce, it is many times better and much more effective to do it through Hong Kong and with the people of Hong Kong. And there are very good reasons behind the suggestion. Hong Kong and China are one: the people share the same culture and heritage, speak the same language, have established trust between them through trade, and are keen to see "One Country, Two Systems" work. More relevantly, the Rotarians in Hong Kong and Macau have been taking service to the Mainland for many years, quietly and not much helped by the policies of Evanston.

The Mainland is indeed our great strength. He who ignores this ignores it at his peril.