What's right with Hong Kong?
Updated: 2013-09-27 07:04
By Ken Davies(HK Edition)
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Hong Kong is one of the best places to live and do business in the world. There is every reason for confidence in the future, but - in a world full of competitors - no room whatsoever for complacency.
Hong Kong is one of the three global financial centers, the others being London and New York. How do these compare?
You are, say, a commuter taking an underground train to your office in the City of London. As you stand on the platform, a voice comes over the crackly old speaker system: "All trains on the Central Line and District Line are running normally." But then come the long list of blocked lines and forecast delays. Trains on your line are "running approximately 35 minutes late, owing to an earlier security incident". How often do you hear that on the MTR?
Or you are squeezing through crowds in a North Manhattan subway station. The floor is covered in decades-old blackened chewing gum. There is no escalator, so you have to carry your luggage up and down several stone staircases. At the end of the platform, a tramp lies among his plastic bags near a family of rats. The walls and even ceilings appear to have been sprayed with filth. Do you see that on the MTR?
The MTR is an example of Hong Kong at its best: a new system that is well maintained and frequently updated. Buses and ferries also. The ancient trams are slower, but great fun - and energy-efficient (using only 500 volts DC).
Taking a taxi is also a more consistently pleasant experience in Hong Kong than in the other two cities. London's black cabs are great, as are their drivers, but they cost a small fortune; don't risk taking a minicab. In New York, taking a taxi is a lottery. Many drivers have difficulty with English, geography, traffic rules and anger management.
Compare also Chek Lap Kok with JFK or Heathrow. No rushing between widely separated terminals, no everlasting immigration queues, no safety procedures that make you feel like a criminal. The train takes you swiftly to Central, where a free bus takes you to your hotel. Hong Kong has a 21st-century airport that the others can only hope to emulate.
Despite all the nonsense in the local media, Hong Kong is an orderly and safe place. New York has become much safer, so you now have a greater chance of being murdered in London, but there are still areas of both cities that you are advised not to walk through at night. Where in Hong Kong is like that?
Hong Kong's advantages as a business center are well-known. You can set up a company in a day or two. Business regulation is light. Trade is free. Taxes are low. There is rule of law. Capital can be moved freely. Communications are first-rate. The location is convenient for multinationals operating in North, East and Southeast Asia, which is why many choose to set up their regional headquarters in Hong Kong.
In fact, improvements in the business environments of London and New York have made them more like Hong Kong. People in Hong Kong probably still think of Margaret Thatcher as the British Prime Minister who negotiated the handover to China, but in Britain she is better remembered for her restructuring of the economy, for which her model was Hong Kong.
But this accounting of Hong Kong's advantages should not be understood as an argument for complacency. Instead, it is an argument for why Hong Kong should be confident. It has undergone many structural changes and will continue to, secure in the knowledge that it has achieved success against the odds. There is therefore no excuse for failure.
Competitors exist, and they are catching up with Hong Kong. As well as London and New York, Singapore and Shanghai are oft-cited rivals, and there are many more all over the world. How to keep ahead?
First, study good practice everywhere. In technical matters, the term "best practice" is often used, but what is best in one place may not be best in another, so I prefer to use "good practice". What works somewhere else may work in Hong Kong, but have to be adapted to fit local conditions.
Then there is a need to digest all this information, share it and encourage public discussion. But discussion should not go on forever. Government's role is to make and implement decisions.
Above all, there is a crying need for a comprehensive, integrated urban development strategy in Hong Kong. Improvements should no longer be piecemeal.
Starting from its excellent telecommunications and IT infrastructure, Hong Kong should become a "smart city". Confronting immense environmental challenges, Hong Kong must also become a "green city".
As a regional tourist center, Hong Kong should link up existing waterfront improvement projects into a continuous panorama of cultural, business and housing developments to rival cities like Paris.
These are tremendous projects, but Hong Kong has a good starting point. The difficulties are fewer than those it overcame in the past. What's needed is determination.
For Hong Kong, the best is yet to come.
The author is founder and president of Growing Capacity Inc, a consultancy.
(HK Edition 09/27/2013 page9)