There is the usual praise for the Hong Kong government and Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu's leadership. One striking difference is that Premier Li Qiang included in his annual work report, delivered at the opening session of the National People's Congress (NPC), a call on Hong Kong to improve its governance and align itself with the national plan. Li has made the central government's position clear: improve the city's governance and get with the programme already. [Link]
I don't like this. "National Plans"? That's for socialist economies. Top-down economies. Not capitalist ones like us here in Hong Kong.
I know there are many in the west, in capitalist economies, that are in love with similar things. Like "industrial policy". I'm not sure any has been hugely successful.
Rather leave things to the genius of the market. Of the pricing mechanism. It's the market that’s really best at "shaking up". It’s the most successful of all systems in "speeding up".
Remember how China sped up in the late 1970s? It wasn't by National Plans, but by releasing market forces. I was there when it happened.i saw it with mine own eyes.
It's the market, baby!
