Hong Kong has had more than its fair share of surprises in the past decade. The Asian financial crisis, SARS, dynamic growth on the mainland – all have sent shockwaves through the economy. During this time, the Hong Kong government has faced numerous demands from all sides to take action. It has been responsive but it has flatly rejected calls for Hong Kong to adopt an industrial strategy in which the government picks winners and becomes an active participant in the market.
This is why a remark by Hong Kong’s chief executive, Donald Tsang, that the government no longer subscribed to the principle of “positive non-interventionism”, has reverberated so loudly in Hong Kong and abroad. Such luminaries as Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman have entered the fray to decry the folly of abandoning the philosophy that has underpinned Hong Kong’s success for so long.
