The past week has been particularly full of bad news, some of it gnawing, some of it heartbreaking, and some of it sad. First, last Sunday, more than 50 people were arrested for participating in the primary election. 47 people were charged after reporting to the police station early and immediately lost their personal freedom; then the four-day marathon bail hearing became a “ridiculous drama” that tortured the defendants, their families and the community, and then there was a “Catch and Release Cao “Only four people were released on bail. How can Hong Kong, which claims to have the rule of law and respects civil rights and freedoms, be reduced to this state.
Beijing changes Hong Kong’s electoral system, trampling on promises
The two sessions of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference being held in Beijing are supposed to be about major national policies, but the news focus is on overhauling the electoral system of tiny Hong Kong. Officials and media have been criticizing Hong Kong’s electoral system for having loopholes that need to be fixed and kept up to date, and stressing the need to implement the principle of “patriots ruling Hong Kong”. But the proposal that came out of the meeting turned out to be an erasure of the constitutional development over the past 20 years since the reunification, and the goal of achieving dual universal suffrage in a gradual and orderly manner, as set out in the Basic Law, was scrapped as if it never existed. How can one not be saddened and outraged by such a wanton violation of promises?
Another equally shocking piece of news is that the Heritage Foundation has kicked Hong Kong out of the Global Economic Freedom Index for the first Time in the new year, and has not ranked it. For those of us who value free markets and individual freedom, this index means a great deal, and it is heartbreaking that Hong Kong has lost its ranking, but it also raises concerns about the future of Hong Kong.
It should be noted that the Heritage Foundation is an important think tank with a global reputation, and its survey on the freedom of global economies is highly authoritative, and represents the international community and business community’s assessment of economic freedom in different regions; in fact, it has always been the developed economies that can be ranked among the top, from the British Hong Kong government to the SAR government are proud of Hong Kong’s long-term ranking at the top of the index. Last year, when Hong Kong lost the top spot in the Index for the first time, Financial Secretary Paul Chan was pleased to see that the Heritage Foundation had recognized Hong Kong’s economic freedom by ranking it second.
Moreover, the Index of Economic Freedom is not purely a matter of ranking, it reflects whether Hong Kong can maintain its most important strengths and core values, and whether it can maintain the key institutional capital of Hong Kong over the past century. Without a free market system, without an invisible hand to effectively allocate and promote resources, without free space for enterprises and Hong Kong people to do their own thing, it is impossible for Hong Kong to seize every opportunity to continuously upgrade its economy and become one of the most developed economies in the Asia-Pacific region. And Hong Kong to continue to occupy a seat in the global economy, continue to serve as an important bridge between the mainland and the world, the same need to maintain this system, and to let the international community and major economies agree.
Loss of economic freedom ranking, cutting competitiveness
The Heritage Foundation, which has always been a strong advocate of Hong Kong’s free economic system, has recently repeatedly questioned this “golden signboard”, first downgrading it last year, and this year simply taking the Pearl of the Orient out of the list and not ranking it. Edwin Feulner, the foundation’s founder, wrote “Hong Kong is no longer what it was” in the Wall Street Journal when the news was announced, explaining why Hong Kong was shown the red card of ejection. Freedom and autonomy are gradually disappearing due to Beijing’s increasing control over Hong Kong, so the foundation no longer sees any significant difference between Hong Kong and other cities on the mainland, and decided to take Hong Kong out of the list and no longer have its own ranking.
Some may argue that the Heritage Foundation is just one Family‘s opinion and may not be able to influence many international investors, and that it would not do much damage to Hong Kong by showing it the red card. It is true that the Heritage Foundation is only one of the many think tanks, but it is very influential in the American conservative, Republican Party, especially in supporting the free market system of political figures, enterprises, and media reputation is very high, this time it made a negative evaluation of Hong Kong’s economic freedom will certainly hit many enterprises and managers confidence, and weaken the image of Hong Kong as the freest economy. If other think tanks follow suit with similar comments about Beijing’s progressive control of Hong Kong’s financial policies and free market institutions, the damage will be even deeper and more far-reaching, and even harder to recover from.
Some may say that China’s economic freedom is not ranked high, but its GDP growth is faster than that of developed Western countries, which means that the ranking does not matter and Hong Kong should not worry about it. Such an idea is actually a lack of understanding of the economic system and the physical quality of Hong Kong and China. China’s economy is large, with a full range of industrial, service and high-tech sectors, and in many ways has the ability to influence and even set the rules of the market, even if it is not sensitive to market information or has the wrong policy there is still room for correction and maneuvering. Hong Kong, on the other hand, is a small open economy that has always had to watch every move of the global economy for Food, and has to rely on the free market system and a keen sense of strain, hoping to seize the first opportunity or turn the situation around. If we lose our keen market sense and ability to respond to economic changes because of shrinking economic freedom, Hong Kong will not only cease to be Hong Kong, but her competitiveness will also decline significantly, and soon become a burden to others.
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