【明報專訊】JUST as the Sino-US trade war continued to escalate, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt pledged during his visit to China to roll out the Shanghai-London Stock Connect scheme within the year. Meanwhile the Shanghai municipal government has also revealed the specifics of its further opening up, and the measures related to the financial sector have particularly caught people's attention. The central government's choice of Shanghai as the pilot city for further opening up was not necessarily aimed at restraining the development of Guangdong. Still, one can foresee the competition between the two opening up "vanguards" will undoubtedly intensify. In the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area master plan to be announced soon, Hong Kong's role is to consolidate and upgrade its function as an international financial centre. It is the city's imminent task to take the initiative to fulfil this role.