China Unveils Plan to Tie Hong Kong, Macau Closer to Mainland

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-18/china-unveils-plan-to-tie-hong-kong-macau-closer-to-mainland

by virtualwhys • 7 years ago

151 99 7 years ago

I suppose it's just simple math that multiple Bay Areas > Bay Area.

esturk• 7 years ago

I wonder if the mainland will ever force either of the 2 ex-colonies to convert into using the "right hand road" orientation? That would be an interesting experiment.

NamTaf• 7 years ago

Hopefully not, with any luck they learnt from the last time they tried this [1]. Besides, it's basically a free-for-all at times outside the major cities anyway.

Additionally, in reality it's not that great a problem - see the UK's connection to the Continent. I guess if the New Territories ever get fully absorbed back into the Mainland, then the border delineation might be tempting to erase and that'll cause problems.

edit: That said, Japan has pulled it off before [2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_the_road_in_China#Dri... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/730_(transport)

ksec• 7 years ago

Why would they want to do that? I would bet lots of people will revolt, forcing them to drive on the wrong side of the road.

bobthepanda2• 7 years ago

Driving rates are pretty low in HK and Macau because the cost of car ownership is so high (namely, the cost of a parking space) and public transit/taxis are so good. So I don’t think you’d get much pushback from actual drivers.

kabouseng• 7 years ago

As long as they do it incrementally it should be fine. For the first week only transition motorcycles to drive on the other side, then the week after the cars, then a week later transition the trucks and heavy vehicles to the other side...

nf05papsjfVbc• 7 years ago

There is no better way to deliver humour than with a straight face. Well done, sir!

Waterluvian• 7 years ago

That surely is an optimal way to transition them all to the Other Side, and fast.

technofiend• 7 years ago

Oh, so Bangalore rules.

entity3453• 7 years ago

Sweden did exactly that in 1967.

darrenf• 7 years ago

As well as the fact that their neighbours drove on the right, the argument was made that switching sides would reduce accidents due to Swedes mostly owning left-hand drive cars. There were fewer accidents initially, but things returned to historic levels pretty soon thereafter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H

Cyph0n• 7 years ago

Samoa did the opposite in 2009. The main reason was to have easier access to the (relatively) nearby Australian vehicle market.

spacehunt6• 7 years ago

Not sure if it's ever practical to do so -- a lot of the built up infrastructure here is asymmetrical.

JumpCrisscross• 7 years ago

Scary from an investment perspective. Imagine having property rights under Hong Kong law transitioned to the lawlessness of Beijing.

cylinder• 7 years ago

Well so far it's been good for HK owners because it allows mainland Chinese to stash their capital in HK.

johnzim2• 7 years ago

Less good for average HKers though...

entity3453• 7 years ago

Won't make any difference. They are not stupid.

arcticbull4• 7 years ago

To play devils advocate, Hong Kong has become comparatively much less valuable to Beijing over the years. It represented 27% of all of China's GDP in 1993, and today it's less than 3%. [1] Beijing has become more forceful in its treatment of HK of late, with for instance, staffing the high-speed rail station in Kowloon with China Police (forbidden under basic law). I think what happens next is unclear. Is it still worth the trouble?

It's not like the UK (which is, to date, responsible for enforcing the terms of the handover) can do anything more than write a strongly worded memo to Beijing. Like they did when those booksellers disappeared [2] or when the Chinese billionaire living in the Four Seasons on the island 'returned to seek medical treatment on the mainland' [3].

[1] http://www.ejinsight.com/20170609-hk-versus-china-gdp-a-sobe...

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/magazine/the-case-of-hong...

[3] https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/02/01/chinese-billionaire-ab...

arcticbull4• 7 years ago

This has been true going all the way back to before the handover was announced. Imagine having property rights under the United Kingdom and no clear transition plan in the mid 90s? This has been the reality in Hong Kong for a generation. I'm very curious to see how this evolves as we move forward.

mprev• 7 years ago

So, we in the UK have a history of not having clear transition plans.

robjan• 7 years ago

Our property is the most expensive in the world so it's clearly not bothering investors yet.

baybal22• 7 years ago

China Unveils Plan to Tie Hong Kong, Macau Closer to Mainland

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