As the latest wave of the omicron onslaught tapers off, the public took the chance to vent their pent-up stress by flocking to popular outdoor venues during the Easter holiday. The initial victory of Hong Kong’s ongoing COVID-19 battle, as evidenced by the steep fall in daily new infections and death cases recently, is a product of joint efforts between the special administrative region and its motherland.
Had it not been for the unflinching support of the central government carried out under the directives of President Xi Jinping, the raging fifth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak would not have been tamed, at least not so quickly, given that the city had been overstretched in its anti-pandemic capacity. The initial anti-pandemic success once again corroborates the advantages of “one country, two systems”, under which the country always has Hong Kong’s back whenever it is in danger.
As noted by Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, the mainland authorities acted swiftly on the directives of President Xi and were pulling out all the stops in assisting Hong Kong in constructing the desperately needed makeshift hospitals and ensuring the supply of fresh produce and other daily necessities to Hong Kong, aside from sending mainland medical experts and staff in droves to the city. These efforts speak volumes of the central government’s care for Hong Kong people, and are an embodiment of the inextricable “blood ties” between the mainland and the special administrative region.
The essence of “one country, two systems” is that the central government exercises overall jurisdiction over Hong Kong, embodied in both its power and responsibility over the region. Whenever Hong Kong is unable to cope with a crisis on its own, the central government will step up to support the city in tackling the problem head-on. The omicron outbreak is a perfect illustration of how Beijing would go out of its way to back up Hong Kong in coping with a daunting challenge.
On Feb 16, President Xi issued crucial instructions, demanding that the HKSAR government prioritize stamping out the contagion, mobilize all resources at its disposal, and take all necessary measures to ensure Hong Kong people’s health and the stability of society. That set out a clear anti-pandemic goal for Hong Kong and galvanized the mainland authorities to deploy manpower and resources to the pandemic battlefront in Hong Kong. Xi made it clear that stabilizing the outbreak remained the overriding task for the HKSAR government, which should dedicate itself to removing all hurdles to the city’s anti-pandemic initiatives. Acting on the directives of Xi, the mainland authorities walked the extra mile to back up Hong Kong’s COVID-19 fight.
Xi’s directives reflect the governing principle of “putting the people and human lives in the first place”, which has steered Hong Kong in the right direction fighting the virus, as well as giving the HKSAR government and residents the much-needed confidence to win the battle.
The onus for the central government to ensure Hong Kong stays intact amid crises by providing the necessary guide and support is a testament to the institutional advantage of “one country, two systems”. In this case, it allows the central government to task the mainland authorities with assisting Hong Kong, but does not absolve the HKSAR government and its entire community of the main responsibility of overcoming the pandemic in Hong Kong.
Mainland health experts were able to contribute significantly to Hong Kong’s COVID-19 fight by coming up with a well-thought-out strategy that focuses on reducing infections, severe cases and fatalities by taking more targeted anti-pandemic measures with key groups, organizations and districts, and prioritizing the needs of the elderly.
To ensure the smooth operation of mainland support for Hong Kong’s COVID-19 fight, a coordination and communication mechanism between relevant national ministries, Guangdong provincial and Shenzhen municipal authorities, and the HKSAR government was set up. And the mainland side has also set up some ad hoc bodies to command, coordinate and deploy all of their support operations.
With the strong support of the mainland, Hong Kong has regained its footing in the pandemic fight, as evidenced by the plunge in new daily infections from more than 50,000 cases during the peak of the fifth wave of outbreak to the current several hundred, with the city’s overall anti-pandemic capacity — including makeshift hospitals and quarantine facilities — significantly boosted by mainland assistance.
When hosting an online video conference with business leaders from various sectors in February, Luo Huining, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR, stressed that in the fight against the pandemic, the most precious element is confidence, the most important quality is unity, and what’s needed the most is action. His call for action was heeded immediately by the business sector, including mainland enterprises operating in Hong Kong, with the introduction of 16 anti-pandemic measures, including measures to ensure the stable supply of anti-pandemic resources and daily necessities for Hong Kong residents.
In between the “two sessions” held in March, Vice-Premier Han Zheng spent a lot of time discussing how to help Hong Kong overcome its COVID-19 predicament when he met with Hong Kong members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Han stressed that the central government would respond to the needs of Hong Kong as long as it makes the requests, and the central authorities would continue to ensure an adequate supply of resources, medical aid, and manpower for the construction of quarantine facilities.
Assistance came in various forms soon after the central government issued the mandate. Fresh produce and other resources were delivered in bulk through sea, rail and land transport. Mainland contractors were working day and night to deliver six quarantine sites in less than a month, providing more than 20,000 beds; hundreds of medical staff from the mainland were deployed to Hong Kong in batches; four groups of medical experts arrived at the city, one after another, to investigate and advise on containing the outbreak. The remarkable results in these anti-pandemic fronts speak for themselves.
The socialist system has the institutional advantage of pooling strengths from all over the country to work on big projects, and Hong Kong has also benefited from this advantage under the “one country, two systems” framework, enjoying the assistance from other provinces under the directives of the central government.
Mainland support in the anti-pandemic fight has been appreciated by Hong Kong society in general. But this has not stopped naysayers from tossing out gibberish about “Beijing’s underlying intention”, in an apparent attempt to drive a wedge between Hong Kong residents and the central government.
Those who downplayed mainland assistance were lying through their teeth. Had it not been for the advice of the mainland experts, Hong Kong would still be all at sea; without the stable mainland supply, Hong Kong would have run out of fresh produce and daily necessities; without the makeshift hospitals built with help from the mainland, many COVID-19 patients would have been stuck at home and inevitably passed the virus to their family members. And there are those who discredited the utility of the mainland aid, claiming that it did a disservice to Hong Kong by impeding the city from achieving “herd immunity” and “living with the virus”. Their absurdity becomes evident when we look at the mortalities of countries that chose to “live with the virus”. Had Hong Kong adopted such a lying-flat laissez-faire approach from the start, I am afraid the fatality figure would be a multiple of the current one. Hong Kong simply cannot afford to lose more precious human lives.
The author is a Hong Kong member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Hong Kong New Era Development Thinktank.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.