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Opinion | Just another Chinese city? 3 reasons you can’t write off Hong Kong
- Hong Kong is the heart of the Greater Bay Area, has growing ties with emerging economic blocs in Asia and the Middle East, and remains an international lifestyle and financial centre
- With each economic swing of the pendulum, Hong Kong has adapted and thrived – and defied the critics
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Over the past few years, and more recently, commentators – often from afar – have tried to write off Hong Kong or say that our time is over. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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Hong Kong is at the heart of a newly emerging economic powerhouse with extraordinary growth potential. Our stock market ranks sixth in the Asia-Pacific by capitalisation, and ninth globally. London, a long-established economic and financial hub, ranks 11th. While the Hong Kong market has had a few tough years, it also pays out dividends that are three times that of the Southeast Asian bourses combined and double Japan’s – indeed, its payout is the highest after mainland China’s.
Change and reinvention are central to Hong Kong’s DNA, as are our legendary resilience and fortitude. Time and again, we have been told that our days were numbered, that we would become “just another” Chinese city.
Looking at the success of many Chinese cities compared to their Western counterparts, this seems like a good plan, but for many reasons, it simply will not happen. Hong Kong, as always, will redefine itself and chart its own course.
As a strong starting point, our ratio of debt to gross domestic product is extremely low (at 7 per cent), so the government has the financial capacity to continue to invest, whereas many global economies exited the pandemic with heavy debt loads.
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I am confident that our success will be based on three factors. First, Hong Kong is at the heart of the economic and commercial Greater Bay Area rocket ship in southern China.
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