My Take | An inward-looking Hong Kong will serve no one

Hong Kong was supposed to be China’s prized access to the world. Now, it’s the weakest link. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has presided over the transition of “Asia’s world city” from asset to liability for Beijing. From political instability to health crisis, the government has proved wholly inadequate, necessitating mainland intervention.

There was never any conflict for Hong Kong to serve as a gateway to the world and the West, and China. The neutered pan-democrats used to argue it needed to remain open to the outside world. The pro-establishment camp thought we just needed to please Beijing. They were both right: either Hong Kong serves everyone, or it serves no one.

Its future depends on restoring its so-called super-connectivity role. But even when the pandemic is over, the chances of Hong Kong recovering its former glory recedes every year as the economic turbo engine of the Greater Bay Area, from technology to finance, threatens to overtake it.

Thanks to the pandemic and its mismanagement, many top foreign executives now refuse to work in the city. More of their regional headquarters are relocating out of Hong Kong, or at least are thinking of doing so.

Expats and locals are moving out in record numbers.

More than 1 per cent of the population are gone, though some, presumably, will return. And in a twist to the direction of human smuggling, there have been reports of people entering the mainland illegally, apparently to escape the city’s Omicron outbreak.