US Consul General Urges Stronger Partnership With HK 　　The United States has given its support for Hong Kong's continued economic success over the years, and it is looking forward to advancing that strong partnership, US Consul General for Hong Kong and Macao Michael Klosson said on October 26. 　　At a welcoming luncheon sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce, Klosson said what happens in Hong Kong matters very much to the United States because of the "extensive ties" between people in the two places, their shared attachment to universal values and their common interests. 　　This was Klosson's first public speech since he took up his post as US Counsul General for Hong Kong and Macao in August. 　　"So we will be partners in Hong Kong's quest in the next century to become an even greater international city," said Klosson, also a career Foreign Service officer with 24 years of experience in East Asia, Europe and senior State Department positions. 　　Klosson, who came to Hong Kong in 1971 as a young professor, said that 27 years later when he returned to Hong Kong, what struck him the most is "how much the very nature of Hong Kong itself is expressed by the idea of change." 　　"Hong Kong has always been a work in progress," he said, adding that what's different now is that it's up to the Hong Kong people and their government, within the framework of the Basic Law, to shape their own future in most areas. 　　One of the things that has changed dramatically since he last lived in HK is the economy, Klosson said. 　　He said that when he left HK in 1972, HK was a city dominated by low-cost manufacturing, where hard work and cheap labor gave HK a competitive edge. But now, he returned to a city dominated by property, banking, retail and other services, where sophistication and expertise provide the edge in a high-cost environment. 　　Judging from what he has read and seen in the past two months, Klosson said he has found that Hong Kong is now seeking to chart its future through the portals of the knowledge-based economy of bits and bytes. 　　In keeping with a more sophisticated economy, higher education opportunities in HK has expanded, Klosson said. The number of HK students going on to college or university has risen from less than two percent to 18 percent. "This is a major change," he said. 　　Meanwhile, there are now 68 student exchange programs and agreements between institutions of higher education in Hong Kong and the US, 24 staff exchange and training programs and more than 150 collaborative projects, he said. 　　Under the concept of "One Country, Two Systems," Klosson said China has kept the basic promises it made to respect Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy. That means that Hong Kong's future, for the first time in its history, is largely in its own hands. 　　"Patterns are being set right now, precedents are being established that will have repercussions far into the future, including on the perceptions of the international community," he said. 　　Noting that the "One Country, Two Systems" idea has never been tried before, Klosson considered the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as a pioneering endeavor. 　　He emphasized economic openness, saying it has kept Hong Kong competitive with other cities that have lower costs or other advantages. "This openness has allowed Hong Kong to change over the years, and it will enable Hong Kong to adapt to the challenges of the next century," he said. 　　Klosson welcomed recent steps by the HK SAR government toward introducing increased openness, transparency and competition in various service sectors, such as telecommunications, and look forward to progress elsewhere, such as banking and air services. 　　"Government has an important role to play in fostering this openness, and Hong Kong, like other developed economies, must continue to ensure that its financial markets are well regulated, and that its goods and services markets are truly open and competitive, " Klosson said. 　　The US government has a very broad agenda of engagement and cooperation with Hong Kong that embraces trade and investment, international economic policy and law enforcement cooperation, Klosson said. 　　Two priority areas of potential cooperation between the US and HK are environmental protection and air services, Klosson concluded. (Xinhua) HomeNews 1999-10-27 Page4 Full Story in Chinese