The real take on Hong Kong
I refer to an article by Mr. Edward Neilan published in your paper on Dec. 26, 1998, alleging that Hong Kong is losing its distinctive edge and becoming "just another Chinese city". He is entitled to his opinion, but it would carry more weight were it not based on a number of inaccuracies and misconceptions.
First, he stated that the Heritage Foundation has replaced Hong Kong with Singapore as the world's freest economy. This is not so. As a matter of fact, Hong Kong was named the world's freest economy in 1998 for the fifth successive year.
The foundation did say that Singapore might be ranked number first next year if Hong Kong did not reverse its market intervention. But one year is a long time in economics, and people betting against Hong Kong usually lose. Just ask the speculators against whom the one-off market intervention was directed.
Several figures quoted by Mr. Neilan are grossly inaccurate. Hong Kong has a population of 6.7 million, not 6.2 million. Similarly, there are 140,000 Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong, not 30,000. The government has reiterated on many occasions that there is no intention of replacing these, or the 30,000 Indonesian domestics, with mainland workers.
His allegation of "an outflow of expatriates" is also unfounded. The number of expatriates in Hong Kong has been increasing steadily since our reunification with China. The expatriate community currently numbers 523,000 compared with 438,000 in July 1997. That means nearly 8 percent of the population is expatriate, a truly cosmopolitan city.
There is no question of the importance of English being downgraded as claimed by Mr. Neilan. Strong emphasis continues to be placed on the teaching of English as a core subject in all schools in Hong Kong. Hence the government's drive to recruit 750 native English-speaking teachers from overseas countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the United States. The local dialect is introduced as a medium of instruction in the majority of schools up to Secondary Three as it is recognized worldwide that children learn best in their mother tongue.
Furthermore, English is an official language widely used in Hong Kong both by the government and private sector for daily communication and official correspondence.
The writer is way off the mark when he says that expatriate civil servants and university professors are being asked to take pay cuts. Salary scales for the civil service and academics are fixed, applying equally to expatriate and local staff. There have been no reductions as a result of the handover. While it is true that the British subjects, previously allowed to enter Hong Kong without visas, are now on the same footing as citizens of other countries, they can renew their visas as easily as other foreign nationals.
Hong Kong has a vision for the future of not only remaining to be the banking, commercial, transport and service center for the region, but also becoming a center of high technology applications. To achieve that vision, we must import skills and expertise which call for more, not fewer, expatriate personnel.
Hong Kong is constantly changing, as always, in keeping with its reputation as a dynamic city. But far from being just another Chinese city, it is becoming more an international center.
CLEMENT CHEUNG
Director
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office
Singapore