Hong Kong finance chief's comments on Occupy protests go too far

Did the Occupy protests harm Hong Kong's international image? In official circles, that is taken as an established fact. So John Tsang Chun-wah waxed indignant about the protest movement at the start of his budget speech yesterday.

Incoherently, he said Hong Kong was an open society that encouraged diversity of opinions, yet complained about how prolonged political bickering had been "detrimental to public administration and the international image of Hong Kong as a stable, law-abiding and efficient city".

"It may even dampen investors' confidence in Hong Kong," he said. "Such self-inflicted harm does not serve the city well."

As much as I was against the Occupy movement, its relatively peaceful resolution put Hong Kong in a good light for the world to see.

At the beginning, many outsiders thought - or even hoped - this was Hong Kong's Tiananmen moment, or our version of the Arab Spring. This stemmed from a profound misunderstanding about the nature of our society and the level of civil liberty we actually enjoy.

However much you deplore our political leaders, they are not butchers. Our police may have made mistakes, but they have been mostly well trained and restrained.