Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Central People's Government's Liaison Office in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, urged Hong Kong youths to extend their vision to cover the whole country and learn more about the peacefully rising nation so as to correctly understand Hong Kong's place in the national development strategy and what it holds for their future. In a keynote speech at a gathering of local youths on Tuesday he also called on young people in Hong Kong to see the unconstitutional nature of separatism under the disguise of "localism" or "self-determination" while correctly understanding the HKSAR's relationship with the State and the philosophy behind the "One Country, Two Systems" principle.

Zhang's advice is a timely wakeup call for those young people who have been hoodwinked by separatist advocates into believing Hong Kong can break away from and survive without the mainland. The absolute truth is no one can break Hong Kong away from China ever again no matter how hard they try; and the city would be worthless once it was completely cut off from the mainland to achieve literal "independence". On the opposite side of this doom and gloom is for Hong Kong to prosper as a part of the nation, which means all 7 million local residents, and particularly the younger generation, must turn their backs on any form of separatism and oppose any attempt to spread those morbid ideas.

As Zhang noted in his speech, Hong Kong society in recent years allowed separatist groups to mislead some young people into believing "independence" is a viable option for Hong Kong. This was obviously to the detriment of those unsuspecting youths' future well-being and the overall interests of society. It is high time people of vision shook them out of such delusions and helped them realize Hong Kong's stability and prosperity is irreversibly tied to the nation's unstoppable rise. The only way for Hong Kong youths to secure a bright future is to actively join those efforts that ensure Hong Kong plays an important role in such endeavors as the Belt and Road Initiative. This is already creating opportunities for young professionals in the knowledge-oriented modern services sector.

It is encouraging to see that the great majority of Hong Kong youths are warming to the promise of the nation's development strategy and very interested in experiencing it first-hand when they have the chance to. The fact is some "early birds" from Hong Kong have already found their "worms" in recent years and the mainland indeed offers many more opportunities than Hong Kong can now. After all, it is now the second-largest economy in the world and growing stronger every day.