WILL the mainland - and Shanghai or Guangzhou in particular - pose any serious challenge to Hong Kong's status as an international banking centre any time in the near future? Mention this to any bank official in Hong Kong and one is likely to get a derisive smile. How can China's banking system - one of Asia's most tightly controlled - compare to probably its most liberal in Hong Kong? What about 20 or 50 years later? The derision is more than likely to give way to murmurs about the risk Hong Kong will be living in the shadow of the mainland, forecast to become one of the world's economic superpowers in the next century.
The most talked-about candidate to take over from Hong Kong is Shanghai. Which is why government banking officials, both in the mainland and Hong Kong, feel the need to take every opportunity to talk down the concerns.
'It's our firm belief that Hong Kong and Shanghai will join hands to break new ground in the financial sector and that the two jewels will shine brilliantly with each other's light,' Anthony Neoh, chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission, said recently in an interview with Xinhua (the New China News Agency).
Zhao Qizheng, vice-mayor of Shanghai, has driven home a similar message with another metaphor.
'With the two lamps lit and shining together, the financial corridor on the west bank of the Pacific Ocean will be brighter and more brilliant,' Mr Zhao says.
The very fact that these and other officials repeatedly stress the need for both 'jewels' to shine together reflects the deep concern among many local and international bankers about the status of post-handover Hong Kong.
