Hong Kong cannot afford a city state of mind
Overhaul of the tax and education systems will help improve city's entrepreneurial opportunity
No one would dare suggest that Hong Kong should secede from the mainland and declare itself an isolated city state, but since the 1997 handover, the city's collective socioeconomic psyche has manifestly done just that.
Hong Kong's political and business leaders have driven themselves into an intellectual cul de sac that prevents the city from advancing beyond the old pre-1997 economy.
It reveals profoundly disturbing trends that cripple our ability to compete and innovate in areas like technology and carve out a leading role in the mainland's development. Protests against visiting mainland tourists are only a symptom of a defensive posture that stifles reform, entrepreneurship and innovation.
Heading into the 1997 handover, Hong Kong business and political leaders exuded a misplaced sense of superiority. They actually thought they would be leading the mainland's economic development.
Hong Kong business and political leaders exuded a misplaced sense of superiority
Aside from supplying manufacturing skills and property development, Hong Kong has exported little intellectual capital or corporate leadership to the mainland despite its early advantages. Stagnation is the best way to describe what has happened after 1997.