Politicians, media, academics - please wake up to the continuing erosion of Hong Kong's supposed autonomy. All of you appear to have been asleep at the wheel when it was announced on May 3 that Hong Kong would contribute HK$32.76 billion (US$4.2 billion) to something called the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation.
The announcement came not from the Hong Kong government or Monetary Authority but at a press conference of finance ministers of the Asean plus three grouping - the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, plus China, Japan and South Korea.
It was made in Bali at the time of the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank, of which Hong Kong is a member in its own right. Yet no one from the Hong Kong government was on hand to explain this commitment of public funds.
Indeed, it now appears likely that local officials were simply told by Beijing what Hong Kong's contribution would be, even though Hong Kong is not a member of the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI). Its US$4.2 billion is part of China's US$38.4 billion contribution. Though it is separately identified, and Hong Kong will be able to borrow up to 2.5 times its contribution, it has no representation on the fund's decision-making body.
No wonder, then, that Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and Monetary Authority chief Joseph Yam Chi-kwong, both given to crowing about government efforts to develop Hong Kong as a financial centre, kept quiet. I can find no mention of it on the government website or that of the Monetary Authority, and no hint of a need to inform legislators or the public about the commitment.
The press, too, largely failed to notice it. This newspaper carried a Reuters report on the creation of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation, with no mention of Hong Kong.
The Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation is an excellent idea and should help maintain currency stability in East Asia at a time when the International Monetary Fund, which is supposed to do the job globally, has insufficient resources.