Message from Legislative Councillor Functional
Constituency Representative for Wholesale & Retail
立法會議員之話 批發及零售界功能組別代表
Hon. Vincent Fang, SBS, JP
方剛先生
Legco has just voted down the Government's version of universal
suffrage for the 2017 election thus ending the 20-month process of
political reform. The Liberal Party to which I belong, myself and most
people in the business sector are clearly supportive of the Government
package because it would have allowed five million eligible voters in
Hong Kong to cast their votes on the selection of our Chief Executive (CE).
This is a vital step forward representing major progress from the current
arrangement where just 1,200 members of the Election Committee
are able to select the CE. The SAR Government has stated that even
the next Administration would not make another attempt for political
reform. This implies that the universal suffrage has an indefinite goal.
Some in the community think the failed passage of the political reform
package is a blessing because otherwise strong objections would be
ignited from those who had demanded the so-called “genuine universal
suffrage”. There might even be another illegal Occupy Movement
and everyone in the community would spend energy trying to resolve
the endless political debate leaving very little room for economic
development.
The HKSAR Government fully understands this and has vowed to put
their focus back onto the economic development and domestic affairs if
Legco voted down the political reform. The business environment has
undergone drastic changes during the 20 months of political bickering:
infrastructural projects have lagged seriously behind; political tension
has risen leading to violent confrontations and growing radicalism
amongst the “localists”; Government policy implementation was met
with political hurdles resulting in our failure to meet with challenges
Hong Kong faced. All these have dealt a major blow to our economy
and have hurt our competitiveness vis-à-vis our neighbours.
The violent demonstrations against parallel trading activities have
dampened the number of visitors to our territory since early this year.
The retail trade has continued to decline and this was worsened by
the introduction of the weekly visa arrangement by the Shenzhen
Government. The wholesale and retail trade is expecting some very
hard times ahead. The stimulus campaign launched a few months
back have briefly boosted tourist arrivals in May but the outbreak of
the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Korea, the lowering
of import duties for daily consumables in June in the Mainland and the
stock market shocks brought about by the Greece credit crunch have
turned things from bad to worse.
2017
年行政長官選舉方案已在
6
月中旬遭否決，為期
20
個月的政改爭拗終告一段落。本人和自由黨，以及大部
分商界同業，顯然都是支持政改方案的，因為，
500
萬
市民有資格投票選舉行政長官，相比祗得選舉委員會的
1,200
名委員有資格投票，實在是邁向全民普選的重要
一步。投票結果沒有出乎意料之外地被否決，雖然投票
的過程委實有點戲劇化！而特區政府已表示，下屆政府
都不會再動政制改革工作，一人一票選特首看來是遙遙
無期了！
不過，政改方案被否決，對整體香港而言，是好事還是
壞事呢？社會上有部分人士認為反而是好事，因為，
政改方案若然獲得通過，那些爭取所謂“真普選＂的人
士一定誓不罷休，結果是民主抗爭運動繼續進行，非法
佔領行動可能會再現；而政府、議會只能將精力繼續放
在應付有關議題之上，那對香港的未來發展，尤其是經
濟，不見得是好事！
辜勿論這是積極還是消極的想法，但特區政府都深明此
道，早在投票前放話，表示一旦政改方案被否決，會將
工作重點放回在經濟發展和民生議題上。
香港的經濟和社會環境，在政改爭拗期間的確出現相當
大的變化：基礎建設和公共工程的嚴重滯後、政治化氣
氛激化本土運動的發展引發激烈抗爭活動、政府施政困
難導致各個環節未能回應國際環境的變化等等，都嚴重
打擊了香港的經濟和社會發展，令競爭力下降，表現落
後於周邊地區。
其中針對內地遊客和水貨客的激進活動，令內地訪港遊
客數目自今年起逐步下降，零售業市道同時節節下滑；
加上深圳當局將一簽多行政策改為一周一行，業界預見
寒冬已屆。本來，在特區政府和旅遊發展局向周邊地區
發動積極宣傳攻勢，加上零售行業齊心推出消費優惠之
後，預期訪港的遊客會在
5
月份回升！可是韓國在
5
月份
出現了中東呼吸症候群、國家海關總署在
6
月份調低部
分進口日用消費品關稅、
7
月初希臘的債務違約導致包
括內地和香港在內的全球股市下滑等等，均令本港零售
市道雪上加霜！
6
