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World-watching leaves HK with identity crisis

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SCMP Reporter

One really has to wonder whether all this travel abroad by members of our Government is such a good idea.

Why is this administration obsessed with turning Hong Kong into somewhere else? It seems anyone who goes overseas comes back to Hong Kong feeling obliged to offer their thoughts on how to transform the city into the Manhattan/London/Las Vegas/Milan of Asia.

No returning speech is complete without invoking some signature landmark from some other thriving metropolis that, according to its eminent observer, should be emulated right here in the Fragrant Harbour.

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Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa got the ball rolling last year when he meandered around Silicon Valley, declaring on his return that Hong Kong absolutely had to have one itself, or at least a property development with a groovy, hi-tech sounding name. Hong Kong, it was said, would become the Silicon Valley of Asia.

With a click of the fingers and before you could say competitive tender process, Cyber-Port was conceived.

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That was followed by the Disney campaign, which still remains undecided. But it looks increasingly likely that M. Mouse & Co will be applying for permanent ID cards and taking up spacious apartments in Discovery Bay very soon. It's close to the office, you know.

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