CHINA'S latest broadside over airport funding should have resulted in an ominous sense of deja vu.
In late November of 1992, exactly the same threats were being issued by Beijing over the invalidity of contracts and leases.
The big difference was the reaction by the Hang Seng Index. Yesterday it hardly moved out of its recent, admittedly fairly volatile, trading range.
In 1992, it crunched from 6,000 to 4,900 in a matter of days.
The subdued reaction to China's latest threats would appear to support the theory that politics and economics have been completely uncoupled.
But if perceptions change, the reaction of the Hang Seng Index could be as violent as in previous encounters. Some analysts believe it could be even worse.
There are serious concerns in some circles that international investors do not recognise, or understand, the process of fraying tempers and manoeuvring that is now occurring.
