Hong Kong should not expect to return to its pre-pandemic prosperity as the city will have to reinvent its approach to development to cope with a new global order in the wake of the havoc wreaked by the coronavirus, a semi-official think tank has said.

“The city’s fully reopening its border with the mainland doesn’t mean that there will be breakthroughs in its economic and social development. It is just a signal that the worst is over for Hong Kong,” Professor Lau Siu-kai of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies said on Friday.

“It only means that the sense of pessimism will reduce with improving livelihoods as Hong Kong can finally start a new chapter with room to reinvent its strategies. The city should not expect to restore its former prosperity,” he warned.

Lau said the city had to enhance its competitiveness with new strategies to attract investors and talent as it was faced with massive disruption in the global supply chain amid growing US-China tensions.Western countries have reduced their reliance on China’s exports, while Hong Kong has been hit by an exodus of investment and talent in the past few years. The city needs to find ways to tap new markets and attract new investors and talent,” Lau explained. 

Lau was speaking after the Hong Kong government announced the border with the mainland would return to normal operations from next Monday with pre-departure polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and the quota system dropped.

Three more crossing points – Lo Wu, Heung Yuen Wai-Liantang and Lok Ma Chau – will also be reopened.

The only remaining pandemic measure for Hong Kong will be the mask mandate, which officials said would remain in place as the risk of a winter surge in Covid-19 cases remained.