Hong Kong scientist Chan Ching-chuen, who wrote to President Xi Jinping to draw his attention on the city's scientific advancement, receives an interview with China Daily on June 2, 2022. (JIANG JIAXUAN / CHINA DAILY)
Editor’s note: The central government’s unwavering support for Hong Kong in the past 25 years has played an indispensable role in safeguarding the city’s development. In the last decade, the special administrative region has pulled at the heartstrings of President Xi Jinping. In a series of reports, we invited Hong Kong residents who’ve come into close contact with Xi to share their experiences with him through a first-person perspective, revealing Xi’s profound impact on Hong Kong’s latest developments.
In June 2017, 80-year-old Hong Kong scientist Chan Ching-chuen, known as the “father of electric vehicles” in Asia, helped to get the SAR’s scientific development off the ground by writing to Xi to draw his attention to the stumbling blocks in the city’s scientific advancement. The letter was co-signed by 23 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in Hong Kong.
The president replied to the academicians in a letter in May 2018, pledging his support and good wishes for developing Hong Kong into a global innovation and technology hub. Relevant central government departments subsequently rolled out a string of initiatives to pave the way for Hong Kong’s scientific development.
In the past four years, Hong Kong’s scientific development has gained momentum. It all began with Xi’s letter which Chan described as a milestone in the city’s sci-tech advance.
When I turned 80, I did something I had in mind for a long time. I wrote a letter to President Xi Jinping. It wasn’t on a whim. I had my reasons and it has been my historic mission and responsibility to call for action to address the scant attention being paid to Hong Kong’s sci-tech development.
As a scientist, I don’t consider myself old enough to retire. It’s a never-ending quest for me to continue exploring the laws of nature in the hope of blessing all mankind. That’s why I wrote to Xi to draw his attention to Hong Kong’s scientific development.
I was born in Indonesia and returned to the country in 1953. As a foreigner living in Indonesia, I constantly felt insecure without a strong motherland. Yet, China, used to be a powerful country but weak in sci-tech development, was being bullied.
President Xi Jinping's letter went down in history as a milestone for Hong Kong’s sci-tech development, both spiritually and materially
Chan Ching-chuen
Technology is the name of the game if Hong Kong were to punch above its weight, transforming itself into a brand new “Pearl of the Orient” and becoming an international metropolis that’s desired by all.
As a Chinese, I was thrilled when President Xi vowed in 2016 to make the nation a tech powerhouse. I knew then that the time was ripe for Hong Kong to seek greater sci-tech advancement in the nation’s lofty goal.
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Heavy attention has been given to technology by generations of State leaders. Be that as it may, national tech-related funding was still out of reach of Hong Kong scientists. I brought up the idea when I was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. But, the matter was up in the air as I was told it would involve many departments, including the Customs and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The Ministry of Science and Technology alone wasn’t able to handle it.
Xi’s letter was a game changer. His letter went down in history as a milestone for Hong Kong’s sci-tech development, both spiritually and materially. It pointed out the directions for Hong Kong’s scientific-technology development – the SAR has to participate deeply in national blueprints and make itself a global innovation and technology hub. This inspired many Hong Kong scientists.
Whether Hong Kong should develop technology has long been debated since the handover. When Hong Kong was ruled by the British, there was no need for the city to develop technology as it only had to rely on the colonizers. But, following the handover, Hong Kong is now a special administrative region of the country -- a fundamental transformation. However, trade has long been the main component of Hong Kong’s economy. The city has deep-water ports, its residents up to the mark in business and, naturally, it’s a trading, shipping and financial center. It has no space for technology.
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When the SAR’s former chief executives planned to develop technology, there were always different voices in the community. But, this time, Xi pointed out that Hong Kong should be an international innovation and technology hub, affirming the city’s critical role in the nation’s scientific-technology development. The president’s instructions have enriched “one country, two systems” and the connotation of the Basic Law in terms of science and technology.
On top of that, Xi’s instructions have helped Hong Kong resolve many of the city’s deep-rooted problems. In line with his instructions, central government departments issued a series of policies that have enabled Hong Kong scientists to apply funds for national scientific projects, and offered tariff cuts for Hong Kong universities’ branches on the Chinese mainland in purchasing overseas scientific facilities.
As far as I know, at least HK$620 million in national scientific project funds has been allocated to Hong Kong scientists to support about 310 scientific projects.
Besides, more beneficial policies have been rolled out. For instance, the Excellent Young Scientists Fund under the National Natural Science Foundation of China is open to Hong Kong applicants. More than 60 young scientists based in Hong Kong have been received funds.
At the national level, Hong Kong has gained growing attention for its sci-tech ambitions, as shown in the nation’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) which explicitly laid out eight lofty goals for the SAR to become international centers in various sectors, including innovation and technology. The national development plan also includes more ideas for Hong Kong compared to previous national blueprints in the past 25 years. This demonstrates Xi’s care and concern, not just for Hong Kong’s sci-tech development, but the city as a whole.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development also offers more favorable policies to cement Hong Kong’s scientific advance
Chan Ching-chuen
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development also offers more favorable policies to cement Hong Kong’s scientific advance. Mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area have set the stage for cross-boundary development with Hong Kong, including Shenzhen’s Qianhai, Zhuhai’s Hengqin Island and Guangzhou’s Nansha, to help Hong Kong and Macao residents pursue their dreams.
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Hong Kong is known for its inherent strength in basic research. As an international metropolis with low taxes, the HKSAR is the most open city in the country. Its free research environment has attracted world-class scientists to the city to crack at core technologies.
Many of Hong Kong’s universities rank among the world’s top institutions of higher learning. This is an advantage for Hong Kong in conducting basic research. However, just developing basic research isn’t enough. The main problem in scientific research in Hong Kong is that the local scientific ecological chain is not complete, reflecting the lack of research institutes. Such institutes can turn universities’ basic research into applied technology and accommodate young scientists as their primary workplace.
The scarcity of research institutes has forced scholars to seek jobs at universities, but the places at university faculties are limited. This has also made Hong Kong scientists more eager to publish papers than to industrialize their research.
With favorable policies offered by cooperation platforms like Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop, as well as Qianhai and Nansha in the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong researchers based there can take advantage of the mainland’s industrial foundation and integrated supply chain to accelerate the HKSAR’s commercialization of technologies.
Although I’m now 85, it’s not the end of my career. I want to waste no time in developing science like my idol, the “father of hybrid rice” Yuen Longping, who returned to a farm in Hunan province after receiving a national award at the Great Hall of the People.
If I had the chance to write to Xi again, I would tell him that “one country, two systems” is being steadily implemented in Hong Kong and, under his instructions, Hong Kong scientists will fulfill their responsibilities and take practical action to make the SAR a better place.
After Hong Kong was hit by the social unrest in 2019, the central government helped stop the violence through legal means by introducing the National Security Law for Hong Kong. Improving the city’s electoral system also conforms to the actual situation on the ground in Hong Kong.
During the fifth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong, the central government moved heaven and earth to contain the virus by sending medical workers and fresh supplies, such as masks and medicines, and building treatment and quarantine facilities in the city.
The central government’s relentless efforts and huge resources given to Hong Kong show its care and wish for “one country, two systems” to be sustained steadily.
For Hong Kong to do its part by seizing the historic opportunities offered, it needs to look to the world with the nation’s interests in mind. We are full of confidence to open a new chapter for Hong Kong together, and build Hong Kong into a modern international metropolis full of vitality, combining Chinese and Western culture, and highly civilized.
