Mr. Shangkong | Spoilt child or not, Hong Kong merits attention
The territory is more than a financial centre but insight about its political challenges is limited
Some Hongkongers felt that Asia's richest man didn't really know what he was talking about, amid efforts by many in the city to defend Hong Kong's freedom and fight for democracy.
When I first heard Li's comments, I had mixed feelings about his contentious description of Hong Kong.
On one hand, I agreed with Li - a legendary figure in Hong Kong - that the city is headed down a dangerous path of populism. However, I can separate the intentions of the younger generation for a better society with actions that may prompt comparisons with the antics of a spoilt child.
With their demands for "one person, one vote" and civic nomination for the city's chief executive in the 2017 election, the activists haven't asked for too much. The sad reality has been that, for many years, neither the Hong Kong administration nor the central government has apparently paid heed to what they are seeking. This environment has given rise to the polarised opinions in the city, where activists are seen either as spoilt children or idealists fighting hard for a deserving cause.
Although I've been a business journalist for more than a decade, I do care about politics - in Hong Kong, mainland China and elsewhere in the world. After all, on the mainland, business in most cases simply means politics, too. How can you do business without attention to politics in the world's No 2 economy?