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Leung Chun-ying (CY Leung)
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Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying is calling for government to take a leading role in the city's big business decisions.

Hong Kong's laissez-faire economic policy is 'outdated', says CY Leung

Chief executive says free-market approach hinders development compared to competitors such as Singapore and South Korea

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has made his strongest call yet for Hong Kong to ditch its hands-off economic policy, calling it outdated and arguing that it was time for the government to take a leading role in the city's big business decisions.

He revived the issue of giving up the "positive non-intervention" policy, first floated in his 2012 election manifesto, in an interview with Xinhua published yesterday - his first since the failure of his political reform package in June. Leung had suggested Hong Kong should build an appropriately proactive government and drop its laissez-faire approach.

Leung said the policy, inherited from colonial times, was outdated in the face of a changing global economy and increasingly intense competition.

"One of the reasons I put forward such a new idea is because the competitors of Hong Kong have been very proactive in [addressing] the economic and livelihood issues," he said.

"As an economy to compete with places like Singapore and South Korea, Hong Kong has no choice but to consider what role the government should play."

That role should be one of a proactive leader and coordinator with the business sector, he said, noting Singapore's advantages as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and South Korea's success in developing its creative industry.

The chief executive said his government should seize the opportunity to act as a "super connector" in the mainland's "One Belt, One Road" initiative, adding that a special bureau might be set up to work on the matter.

Leung continued to hit out at pan-democrat lawmakers as he reiterated the need to put economic development ahead of politics for the rest of his term after spending time unsuccessfully promoting political reform.

"Two of the past three years have been spent on political reform. That's why I said we had to transfer the energy to economic and livelihood issues after the end of the reform vote," he said. "There are some obstructing forces within Hong Kong - including the filibustering staged by the opposition forces in the Legislative Council - which have dragged down the pace of the city's economic development."

Liberal Party chairman Felix Chung Kwok-pan said the policy of positive non-intervention had been the cornerstone of the city's success and made Hong Kong one of the freest economies in the world. "How proactive does Leung want the government to be," he asked. "If the intervention is severe then Hong Kong would no longer be Hong Kong."

Chung said Leung should instead focus on improving the business environment. He said more government intervention would not help grow the economy and would further dampen sentiment among businesses.

Leung's predecessor, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, was a champion of the positive non-intervention policy, but raised eyebrows in 2006 when he suggested the city could move away from it.

Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing criticised Leung for giving his first interview in the wake of the reform failure to Xinhua, suggesting he was accountable to Beijing instead of the Hong Kong public.

Lau also accused Leung of hypocrisy for saying he wanted to mend his relationship with lawmakers across the spectrum after the reform vote and then attacking the pan-democrats through the state news agency.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: HK's laissez-faire policy 'outdated'
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