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Interview: High Autonomy Widely Valued in All Parts of Society in Hong Kong
"I am very sad that I will leave this most dynamic and energetic city in the world," said Andrew Burns just a few days before he will assume his new post as the British high commissioner in Canada.
Burns, 56, the first British consul general for Hong Kong and Macao officially appointed by the British government since China's resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, arrived here four months after the handover, but he first became involved in Hong Kong affairs 12 years ago.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Burns pointed out that the pessimistic predictions about the situation in Hong Kong have not been fulfilled and Hong Kongers should have much more faith in themselves.
"The principle of 'One Country, Two Systems' has become a reality, the high degree of autonomy exists and is clearly widely valued in all parts of society, and most of life here goes on quite unaffected by the change of sovereignty," the consul general noted.
Burns said he is very confident of the success of Hong Kong in the long run, since he believes that the Chinese government seriously wants the philosophy of high autonomy to be a success and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government is determined to make it a success.
"I am sure that the SAR government will continue to do all they can to ensure that the remarkable talents of people of Hong Kong are able to exploit the autonomy to the full," he added.
Speaking of the trade and investment between Britain and Hong Kong, Burns said Hong Kong is, after Japan, Britain's second largest export market in Asia, taking well over 2 billion pounds of British exports each year and 35 percent of British exports for China's mainland also pass through Hong Kong.
About 80 percent of Hong Kong's investment in Europe is in Britain in sectors as diverse as ports, telecommunications, textiles, property and computer peripherals, he added.
"Here in Hong Kong we have an active trade mission program bringing out some 250 British companies to the Hong Kong market each year, we help around 200 British companies take part in trade fairs hare, and we also take influential Hong Kong business people to the UK," Burns said.
As for the future business opportunities in Hong Kong after China's accession to the WTO, Burns said there are huge prospects in technology, education, services and environment. "We will find new roles and new things to do in all these aspects."
Asked about what the best memory he has of Hong Kong during his term, Burns said he was unprepared for the excitement of living in Hong Kong when he came, though he made contacts with many friends who have quite a lot of background knowledge of Hong Kong.
"I had not really appreciated just how dynamic and energetic Hong Kong is," he said, describing the city as "the Manhattan of the Pacific + an intense urban experience, surrounded by beautiful hills and seascapes. "It is a place where you live 120 percent all of the time," he said.
"By looking back to my time in Hong Kong, what I actually most enjoyed was entertaining over 7,000 people from all walks of life to meals and receptions in our apartment at the Albany," Burns recalled.
One of Burns' great pleasures in Hong Kong was that he had the chance to travel around all over China. In his list of the destinations, there are not only those big cities in East and Southwest China, but also the less densely-populated western areas.
Just recently, Burns and his wife flew to Lanzhou and then traveled by train along the renowned "Silk Road" in the western part of China. "It was a great highlight of my time here," he recalled, adding that the Silk Road was probably the first original Internet bringing culture and trade from the east to the west and vice versa.
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