HK should prepare for challenges

The celebration Wu attended also marks a new beginning for Shenzhen.

President Xi Jinping, in his speech at the event, urged Shenzhen to promote the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as the city plays a crucial role as a growth engine for the 11-city cluster.

The Bay Area, a national-level development blueprint that ties Hong Kong and Macao with nine mainland cities, is the largest economic zone development in the world. It strives to rival Silicon Valley in the United States.

Ahead of the ceremony, the central government showered Shenzhen with a package of favorable policies, ranging from boosting innovation-driven economy to luring professional talent.

In Wu's eyes, the engine role Shenzhen is going to play is sending a message to Hong Kong: Prepare for challenges.

Challenges Hong Kong is facing are not just from Shenzhen. Sandwiched between China-US trade tensions and caught by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hong Kong's GDP shrank by 8.9 percent in the first quarter of 2020 and 9 percent in the second.

But the veteran businessman is optimistic for his home city. He said that Hong Kong is capable of meeting challenges if it can fix two problems: the city's governing style and acute housing needs.

"The leadership of Hong Kong should be more proactive and fearless. Don't avoid the pressing affairs in their charge," he said.

He referred to the city's longstanding, deep-seated problem — affordable housing. "I noticed that Shenzhen's rapid development is in part because the government has solved the housing problem, even though a large number of people from rural areas were heading to the city at that time," he said.

Wu also attributed part of the violent turbulence Hong Kong experienced in the latter part of 2019 to insufficient affordable housing for the city's youth. Starting in June 2019, protests against a proposed extradition law amendment, which was ultimately shelved, morphed into violent clashes between radicals and police.

"How can you ask people to work for the city's development if they are not sheltered in a proper place?" he said. Hong Kong has ranked as the world's least affordable housing market for 10 consecutive years, according to the annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Study.

Wu backs the government's proposed Lantau Tomorrow Vision reclamation project, announced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in her 2018 Policy Address, which is intended to house 1.1 million Hong Kong residents by 2035. The Legislative Council has yet to approve funding for the project's preliminary study.

But he thumbed his nose at a proposal to ask the central government to lease Zhuhai's Guishan island to Hong Kong for housing. "Hong Kong can solve the problem itself. Asking the mainland for more land is like begging when having a gold bowl at hand," Wu said.

Meanwhile, Wu said Hong Kong should change its mindset as the leading force in Southern China. "When Shenzhen started to open its door to overseas investment, Hong Kong was like a big brother to it, helping it a lot. Now it is time for Hong Kong to accept that the leading role could be shouldered by different cities, and cooperation is the only way to consolidate your advantages," Wu said.

He implored Hong Kong to stay vigilant in maintaining its edge — professional services such as finance and legal, and provide them to Shenzhen in the development of innovation.

"Don't just follow a trend after learning others are making money of it," Wu said. "Do what you are good at. Excel in it so that nobody can catch up with you."