Mahathir's call to WTO makes sense<\/p>\n
Since the Asian currency and stock market turmoil began,
\nresentment against the West has swept through Southeast Asia. It
\nis not just Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad who
\nbelieves there is a Western plot to undermine the economies of
\nthis whole region.<\/p>\n
Now that Hong Kong has been badly hit, with Western
\nspeculators gunning for the dollar and dumping shares, the
\nconspiracy theory is quickly making the rounds. Even Hang Seng
\nBank chairman Sir Q.W. Lee has spoken of a possibly concerted
\nattack on Hong Kong's economy.<\/p>\n
People in Hong Kong are beginning to point to what they see as
\nstrange coincidences in the recent past throughout the region,
\nstarting with the attack on the Thai baht, followed by a
\nseemingly systematic assault on country-by-country basis, ending
\nin a massive attack on the Hong Kong dollar and its peg to the
\nUnited States dollar.<\/p>\n
Then came the Morgan Stanley's announcement about reducing its
\nHong Kong holdings to zero, followed by Moody's Investors
\nServices' unusual announcement of plans to downgrade Hong Kong
\nbanks.<\/p>\n
All these actions may have been motivated by nothing more than
\na desire to make a quick profit. After all, Western markets were
\nalso affected.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, recent events show that emotions can be deeply
\nstirred even by happenings on the market that cannot be in
\nanybody's interests, either in the East or in the West. Something
\nneeds to be done.<\/p>\n
Dr. Mahathir, widely mocked in Hong Kong when he first pinned
\nthe blame on American financier George Soros, may be pointing in
\nthe right direction with his suggestion that the World Trade
\nOrganization (WTO) study new rules, including the introduction of
\nregulated currency trading, to prevent a recurrence.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong authorities, which have announced they are looking
\ninto the local structure and some of its obvious flaws, have a
\nvested interest in supporting the Malaysian leader.<\/p>\n
Just as Hong Kong's own structure requires proper safeguards,
\nso do those of the region. In fact, all the world's markets need
\nbetter protection and no organization is better equipped to work
\nthis out than the WTO.<\/p>\n
-- Hong Kong Standard<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mahathirs-call-to-wto-makes-sense-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }