Hong Kong official slams ‘bias against China’ after new article by Stephen Roach

Hong Kong official slams ‘bias against China’ after new article by Stephen Roach US economist writes that ‘Hong Kong of old is over’ but deputy finance chief, without naming specific critics, defends city’s international appeal A senior Hong Kong finance official has hit back at criticism of the city’s prospects as “bias against China”, following a recent commentary by a prominent US economist who asserted that “the Hong Kong of old is over”. The government’s rebuttal did not directly name any specific critic but was published after American economist Stephen Roach wrote an opinion article saying Hong Kong had become a mainland city. “Some critics appear to be driven by bias against China rather than objective analysis. Their criticism is neither backed by evidence nor aligned with facts,” Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun wrote in a commentary published by a local newspaper on Wednesday. “On the contrary, investors and talent have full confidence in Hong Kong, drawn by our global connectivity and international character.” In an online commentary titled “Yes, the Hong Kong of old is over” published last week, Roach, a faculty member at Yale University and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, argued that despite surface-level market rebounds, the city had fundamentally transformed from an autonomous, globally connected enclave into one dependent on mainland China. He pointed out that Hong Kong’s financial recovery, specifically its return to the top spot for initial public offerings (IPOs), was primarily fuelled by mainland Chinese firms, casting the city as a specialised platform for mainland issuers rather than a broad-based global market.