The most important holidays of the year for people of Chinese descent is fast approaching. The great majority of Hong Kong residents are hoping they will enjoy a happy Lunar New Year in peace and harmony. After seven months of frequent and often-violent protests and rampant criminal vandalism, local residents cannot help but pray the city will have a fresh start in 2020, beginning with a normal Spring Festival holiday season. With this thought in mind, Luo Huining, newly appointed director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, hosted the Liaison Office’s annual Spring Festival reception on Wednesday evening to convey his festive greetings and best wishes to Hong Kong people while repeating his expectations for the SAR, which he articulated when meeting Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in this capacity for the first time last week.

“Cherish our home, Hong Kong” is no doubt Luo’s utmost expectation for Hong Kong people. This is perfectly logical and readily understandable. A successful and prosperous Hong Kong not only benefits Hong Kong people but is also crucial to and part of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. “Cherish our home, Hong Kong” entails upholding its core values — particularly the rule of law — by all Hong Kong people; it also requires the full and faithful implementation of the “one country, two systems” principle.

Conceivably, Luo reiterated in his speech the importance of faithfully implementing this unique arrangement in a city that has yet to emerge from the prolonged turmoil. He said the SAR gained opportunities and room for growth when “one country, two systems” was faithfully implemented, and became plagued by conflict and chaos otherwise in a penetrating summary of Hong Kong’s development and experience of the past two decades. Hong Kong enjoyed social harmony and made considerable progress in terms of social and economic development in the early years since its return to the motherland, when the “one country, two systems” principle was faithfully practiced; but the city has been marred by political wrangling, social conflict and turbulence in recent years, particularly in the past seven months, when the principle was deliberately misinterpreted by the political radicals to promote their political agenda.

There is no doubt that a better Hong Kong is the sincere wish of both Luo and the central government. But whether this aspiration can be achieved largely depends on the Hong Kong people. It is hoped that Hong Kong people can put aside political differences and let wisdom and reason reign again.