HK youths must treasure city’s prosperity, stability

The world is changing very rapidly today and there are many worrying trends.

First and foremost is climate change. Although some people deny it is happening and deny human activity is the culprit, these denials will not change the fact that global warming is occurring, and that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is rising. Heat waves, droughts and stronger hurricanes are killing people. One report says large parts of India may not even be habitable in the years to come because of a lack of water and high temperatures.

Another important issue is social and political instability. The weekend “yellow vest” riots in France have continued for months and show no signs of abating. Rising income and wealth inequality worldwide is also sparking social unrest from time to time. In the United Kingdom, the Brexit fiasco, which was ignited in part by fears over uncontrollable immigration and in part by the “loss of sovereignty” due to the European Union membership, is fracturing British society. In other countries, corruption, clashes between ethnic groups, and even civil wars, are causing capital flight and discouraging investors from investing in these countries in the future.

Still another problem is the increasing incidence of crimes caused at least in part by rising inequality and corruption. In South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico, where crimes are rampant, investors fear for their personal safety and their assets and simply shun these places.

Fortunately for Hong Kong and the mainland, we have a very low crime rate and remarkable social and political stability. And fortunately for the world, China is leading the world in sustainable development.

There is a crime index ranking in the Numbeo website. I was pleasantly surprised to see China’s crime index has fallen dramatically from last year’s 48.67 to 36.7 while the safety index has risen from 51.33 to 63.3. The Chinese mainland’s crime index today is now lower than that of Canada and the United States. Hong Kong’s crime rate is 18.1, a shade higher than that of Taiwan at 16.22. Both Hong Kong and Taiwan this year enjoy a lower crime index compared with last year.

Hong Kong’s strong rule of law index, political stability, low crime rate, and excellent infrastructure and ease of doing business have traditionally been a big draw for international investors. Data from Trading Economics show that foreign direct investment in Hong Kong increased by HK$16 trillion (US$2 trillion) in 2018. Foreign direct investment in Hong Kong averaged HK$7 trillion from 1998 until 2018, reaching an all-time high of HK$16 trillion in 2018. The same source indicated that foreign direct investment into China rose 2 percent year-on-year to US$69.7 billion in the first half of 2019, or 7.2 percent to 478.33 billion yuan, despite the ongoing trade dispute with the US.

What is behind China’s draw for investors? There is little doubt that the mainland’s rule of law is not as reputable as that of Hong Kong, but according to the rule of law subindex in World Bank’s worldwide governance indicators (WGI), China has been improving its rule of law. In 1996, China’s ranking was at the bottom 33.67 percent. This has risen steadily to 44.71 percent in 2017. The steady improvement and the falling crime rate have inspired confidence.

Happily for Hong Kong, our rule of law ranking in the WGI has also improved since the handover. In 1996 our ranking was at the top 30 percent. By 2017 our ranking rose to the top 7 percent. This is pretty remarkable. It shows that the rule of law has improved significantly since the handover. This explains why our FDI has remained strong and our economy has remained resilient over the years.

Unfortunately, many of our young people seem to be oblivious of these facts. I very much hope that our teachers in schools and universities will share this information with their students. Will the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union include these facts in the downloadable resources provided to teachers?

Happily for the rest of world, China has been acting responsibly in dealing with climate change. While Brazil has allowed the disappearance of its rainforests in the Amazon basin to accelerate from two soccer fields per minute to three soccer fields per minute, China has contributed the most to the increase in forest-covered land.

A NASA satellite study shows that China and India lead reforestation. The researchers found that the global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent since the early 2000s - an area equivalent to all the Amazon rainforests. At least 25 percent of that gain is attributable to China.

Today, China and India lead the world in citizens’ trust for their governments. A Forbes report shows China and India have won the most trust at 84 percent and 70 percent of respondents. From 2017 to 2018, 8 percent more Chinese mainland people trusted their government. During the same time, 5 percent less of Indians trusted their government, and, most shockingly, the US suffered a sharp decline by 14 percent to only 33 percent.

Sadly for Hong Kong, many of our youth have been misled into “civil disobedience” and riotous behavior which is threatening the sustainability of Hong Kong’s economic prosperity.

The author is dean of business at Chu Hai College of Higher Education.