Beijing has taken the “one country, two systems” arrangement under which Hong Kong is governed in a “new historical direction” amid deeper integration with the nation’s key policies, the foreign ministry’s top diplomat in the city has said, adding that it underscores China’s principle of peaceful coexistence.

Cui Jianchun, commissioner of the foreign ministry’s office in Hong Kong, told a legal forum on Friday that the one country, two systems principle was a “continuously developing process”.

“By deeply integrating with national strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, the one country, two systems undertaking has taken a new historical direction,” Cui said in a speech given in English at the 2024 Colloquium on International Law.

He added the arrangement was an example of how China’s principle of peaceful coexistence for diplomacy could also be applied to domestic affairs.

“Therefore, using the one country, two systems approach to resolve China’s reunification issue or question is another form of how the peaceful coexistence principle can be applied,” Cui said, without specifying the issue.

Cui added that Hong Kong’s role as the headquarters of the International Organisation for Mediation was important, as the body now had more than 90 jurisdictions signed on as founding members.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in his speech to mark the start of the conference that Hong Kong’s legal sector would be able to expand its work in mainland China following the coming liberalisation of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (Cepa).

“The arrangement, which has been concluded and soon to be finalised, means that among other things, legal professionals from Hong Kong will have greater room to do business on the mainland,” Lee said.

Professor Lau Siu-kai, a consultant at the semi-official Beijing think tank the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping had repeatedly cited the principles of peaceful coexistence when Beijing was in talks with Britain on the handover of Hong Kong.

He said the speech, made with the international audience of the event in mind, served as a reminder that Beijing had always been keen to uphold the governing principle of one country, two systems when the West continued to attack China for undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy.

“It made clear to all parties that one country, two systems is not a temporary measure, but a well-thought-out solution to a historic problem that is beneficial to all parties and accepted by all parties,” Lau said.

“Why would China want to jeopardise one country, two systems? There is no reason, no need and no motive.”

Legal experts from several Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries told the Post on the sidelines of the forum that the city’s legal services offered various advantages.

Zholymbet Baishev, a professor of law at Turan University in Kazakhstan, said his country’s Astana International Financial Centre had worked with the city, adding that the country was hoping to learn from Hong Kong’s commercial laws.

“All business partners are well-aware of Hong Kong as an arbitration centre. They trust Hong Kong arbitration and the experience of arbitration proceedings in Hong Kong became the basis and foundation of the Astana International Financial Centre,” Baishev said.

Ibrahim El Diwany, minister plenipotentiary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, said he looked forward to conducting more deals between his country and China through the city’s companies.

Eldiwany gave examples such as the Ain Sokhna port on the Red Sea developed by a consortium led by Hutchison Port Holdings, a subsidiary of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison. The Hong Kong company had invested US$700 million in the project and a container terminal in the Port of Alexandria.

Pericles Stivaros, head of the department of international treaties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, added that Hong Kong’s strong common law system would be important to his country, which adopted an English common law-based legal system with its public law conducted in continental tradition.