China is not changing Hong Kong and Hong Kong is not changing China.
Regardless of the fact that you have two "countries" right next to each other, one on the cutting edge of technology and 80% of the other at nearly 3rd World Status does not necessarily mean that one will influence the other.
Hong Kong will no doubt remain on the cutting edge of technology for many years to come, due to the fact that they are in one of the most economicaly free areas of the world (any non-Libertarians should note this). China, however, while they truly desire stepping up and greeting the new century with open arms, Big Brother is too heavily ingrained in their culture. The government wants to control all Internet Access Points. The government, while getting better, is not economically free in fact, quite the opposite. I was in China recently and have a word of advise for businesses in the US planning on moving abroad: The WTO will not mean anything to the Chinese. They are used to having things their way, and joining the WTO is not going to change that.
The State sells drivers records, arrest records, etc. to private companies who then resell this information to employers. If there are mistakes, they may be corrected with the State, but the old, tainted records are already floating around by God knows how many private companies. The real issue here is, should we allow the State to sell this information to private companies? My vote is no.
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China is not changing Hong Kong and Hong Kong is not changing China. Regardless of the fact that you have two "countries" right next to each other, one on the cutting edge of technology and 80% of the other at nearly 3rd World Status does not necessarily mean that one will influence the other. Hong Kong will no doubt remain on the cutting edge of technology for many years to come, due to the fact that they are in one of the most economicaly free areas of the world (any non-Libertarians should note this). China, however, while they truly desire stepping up and greeting the new century with open arms, Big Brother is too heavily ingrained in their culture. The government wants to control all Internet Access Points. The government, while getting better, is not economically free in fact, quite the opposite. I was in China recently and have a word of advise for businesses in the US planning on moving abroad: The WTO will not mean anything to the Chinese. They are used to having things their way, and joining the WTO is not going to change that.
The State sells drivers records, arrest records, etc. to private companies who then resell this information to employers. If there are mistakes, they may be corrected with the State, but the old, tainted records are already floating around by God knows how many private companies. The real issue here is, should we allow the State to sell this information to private companies? My vote is no.