Mark Pinkstone

Australian journalist with 50 years experience in Hong Kong. Former Chief Information Officer with the Hong Kong (British) Government.

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@manfook @hkdc_us but no job

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@cathychancn520 @thecfhk @SSRoachUSChina Not offended at all. Hong Kong is another Chinese city, but with it's own characteristics, such as rule of law. Hong Kong is governed by the British-inherited Common Law system which China uses the Civil Law system.

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

https://t.co/eYbpeI8a67

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

Roach goes regional to slam Hong Kong
US economist Stephen Roach just can’t help himself. He continues to condemn Hong Kong by syndicating his one-sided opinions to regional newspapers, but changing his tactic by referring to the “old Hong Kong.”

He sits among the few remaining doomsday armchair critics who declare Hong Kong is over, dead since the handover in 1997. But he should know better. In his younger days he was chairman of US investment bank, Morgan Stanley Asia, based in Hong Kong. And now at 80 he is a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and senior lecturer at Yale School of Management.

His latest outburst has appeared in the Bangkok Post, Manila Times, Mumbai Financial Express and Singapore’s Think China (part of the Singapore Press Holdings' flagship Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao) to name just a few, all with the same theme “Hong Kong of old is over.”

As a former Hong Kong taipan, Roach is still living in the past. After a considerable backlash from his previous comments about the death of Hong Kong, he is now inferring that all of his previous comments were referring to an unknown past. He doesn’t mention a new Hong Kong, just an old one.

His change in tactic has come about as a result of a barrage of criticism late last year from indignant Hong Kongers and others more knowledgeable in Hong Kong matters, who drew attention to the city’s runaway success as a leading financial center.

While acknowledging Hong Kong’s success, he wrote that beneath the surface, the story is very different. He noted that Hong Kong is just another big Chinese city and that “the Mandarin name Xiānggǎng celebrates the city’s precolonial heritage seems more apt than Hong Kong, a phonetic translation from Cantonese, the city’s long dominant dialect. This dramatic transformation into Xiānggǎng is the real story. Hong Kong’s defenders are in denial about this new chameleon-like identity, instead viewing it as another example of the city’s inherent resilience. Nice try,” he writes.

This shows just how much Roach is out of touch with reality. Hong Kong has been Xiānggǎng ever since China switched to Hanyu pinyin in 1958 to standardize the pronunciation of Mandarin sounds throughout the country. Xiānggǎng is the official Mandarin name for Hong Kong. But for all intents and purposes, Hong Kong is still Hong Kong.

Yes, Hong Kong is another Chinese city, but with very important different characteristics – the rule of law being one of them. Hong Kong inherited Britain’s Common Law system as its legal base, which is different but more recognizable in the West than the Chinese Civil Law system.
But Roach won’t let it go. “The rule of law,” he said,” long regarded as one of Hong Kong’s greatest institutional advantages, has been severely compromised.” He cited the introduction of the national security laws “which stifled open debate.” However, he failed to acknowledge that the law was introduced immediately after Hong Kong was rocked by deadly riots by activists, and external forces. And, ironically, the new national security law for the UK virtually mirrors the Hong Kong law.
He also cites the resignation of six foreign judges from the Court of Final Appeal “calling the independence of the city’s highest judicial authority into serious question.” In this he found an ally in Lord Jonathan Sumption, a China hawk who wrote in the Financial Times that a Mainland strain of judicial patriotism was poisoning the city’s legal system. He did not mention that many resigned simply because of old age and as Canadian judge Beverley McLachlin, who resigned citing her wish to spend more time with her family told the BBC: "I continue to have confidence in the members of the Court, their independence, and their determination to uphold the rule of law.”

Gazing into his dusty crystal ball, Roach believes that the Hong Kong government seems to think that the Chinese-style central planning offers new hope for its economy and recently launched its first five-year plan. “But, as China is painfully learning, such plans can often over-promise and under-deliver. This suggests that until there is a meaningful test of the downside — for the economy or the equity market — any conclusions drawn about Hong Kong’s resilience are premature,” he wrote. He is apparently oblivious of Hong Kong’s ambitious billion-dollar Northern Metropolis project which will transform land, one third of Hong Kong’s total, into a futuristic science hub with universities, hospitals and new town facilities to meet a new population of 2.5 million.

Hong Kong’s Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun, without referring directly to Roach, rebutted: “Some critics appear to be driven by bias against China rather than objective analysis. Their criticism is neither backed by evidence nor aligned with facts. On the contrary, investors and talent have full confidence in Hong Kong, drawn by our global connectivity and international character.”

Just the other day, Roach wrote, a leading reporter messaged me: “Hong Kong is over’ seems over. What would you say about it?” Well, let me be clear: the Hong Kong of old is, indeed, over. Go to Xiānggǎng and see for yourself.”

Much of Roach’s ramblings is old news and repeats of what he has said before. There is nothing new in his latest outbursts. He appears to be an old man living in the past without acknowledging the present or future.

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@lukedepulford Your greatest threat is not Hong Kong, but the US

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@lukedepulford Is Luke now pimping for Emily? Any book that incites sedition is illegal...anywhere.

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@thecfhk @frances_hui It is against the law anywhere to publish seditious material, not only Hong Kong, anywhere.

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@thecfhk It doesn't matter about size. You'll find any excuse slag off a new Chinese embassy; it's in your DNA.

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@frances_hui Jimmy Lai is a convicted criminal and is justifiably serving time. 'nuff said.

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@denisewu the key is Lai would not imprison journalists for "writing articles HE APPROVES OF."

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@hk_watch It's the same law mirred by the UK government

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@HunterBiden @realDonaldTrump You are not in a position to nominate anyone for the Nobel Prize.

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@stephendziedzic Why hasn't anyone complained about the US's missel launches in the Pacific, especially the devastating A bomb tests in the Marshall islands. The war mongering US is more of a threat to Australia and the Pacific than China.

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

https://t.co/rTskQaMOOw

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

https://t.co/rhEgLx0RKJ

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

https://t.co/tOqf5ryMxP

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@chowsiulungHerb The so-called "political prisoners" are common prisoners convicted of treason-related charges. They tried to overthrow the government.

[Mark Pinkstone @mark_pinkstone]

@hk_watch @dcexaminer fair enough for treason