The first point is from China's internal problem solving point of view. For example, Hong Kong is really the least of their problems in terms of its chances of being separated from China. There are many potential “separatists”, as they call them, and I think that in your last session the Dalai Lama was mentioned. The most problematic is Xinjiang and then there's Taiwan. Of course, the one country system was really first created for Taiwan by Deng Xiaoping.
So from that point of view, from the Chinese unification point of view, if Hong Kong becomes democratic it can solve the problem. If Hong Kong cannot solve our own problem when everything is promised for us.... We're ready. We're matured. We're very international. What we're doing is actually very good for China. They have been copying our systems. For example, all of the financial system of China is the Hong Kong system. This process, even in the financial world, is continuing.
There is the innovation and technology part. China is very anxious to go up that path, but with their legal system, they cannot. There's no way to reform their legal system because of the political system. Many in mainland China know this. They give up. The way to solve it is... For example, there is the issue of IP protection. Most international companies as well as Chinese companies prefer to place their IP in Hong Kong to have Hong Kong ultimately protect it. So it's not just internal problem solving; it's down the road of their reform and opening. They will not copy us and we cannot force them to copy us. But they will take the reference of Hong Kong when they are ready to. We cannot tell them what to do. But everybody knows that we call Hong Kong the tail that is wagging the dog. Hong Kong with its little tail has the potential to wag the really big dog. So democracy is part of it.