2007-09-29

Update on Readings

I uploaded to WebCT more of the digital files of readings that were retrieved from the WebCT site of the previous course.

Please note that for the book by Prof. Yash Ghai, the citation on the syllabus was incorrect. The title is Hong Kong's New Constitutional Order. I'm sorry for any confusion caused. This book IS available online through the MyLibrary resources of the HKU Portal. Access the EBooks electronic resources database and search by title. For other readings, please check the Library. I will try to put more readings on reserve at the Department. If you encounter any other citation errors, please let me know.

BTW, you might be interested in some books recently published by Civic Exchange, the policy think tank. They deal with constitutional development, political leadership, and the environment, and should be useful.
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U.S.-Hong Kong Relations: A Business Perspective

Looking forward, our guest speaker on 10 October will be my former colleague Jack Maisano, who is now the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Jack will talk about Hong Kong's relations with the U.S. and how investors, particularly American companies, view Hong Kong today. Jack's background is in publishing so he might also have something to say about the role of the media. After hearing from Mike Rowse, it should be interesting to listen to a representative of the investor community - the people InvestHK is courting - offer his views on Hong Kong's competitiveness and business outlook.
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2007-09-28

The ICAC - Fighting Corruption

Believe it or not, in the 1960s and '70s, corruption was a big problem in Hong Kong. But the territory under the British did something about it. In 1974, the government set up the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which still exists today and is one of Hong Kong's main bulwarks against graft and corruption in the public and private sectors. On Wednesday, Daniel Fung will certainly be talking about the ICAC so I suggest you check out its website and the quick online presentation that outlines how the organization got started. The ICAC has become a model for other anti-corruption agencies in Asia and around the world because of its success at home.

You might be interested in Transparency International's latest Corruption Perception Index, which was released on Wednesday. Hong Kong ranks 14th, one position better than last year. Top of the ranking both this year and last, ie the countries perceived to be the least corrupt: Finland, Iceland and New Zealand.
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Lurking on the "Blogospheric" Sidelines?

Nehru said: "The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all." Step forward and share your thoughts on anything on this blog, including the Questions of the Week - on Hong Kong's competitiveness and the impact of its constitution.

Want to see examples of very active blogs? Check out Rebecca MacKinnon's blog (she's the former CNN Beijing bureau chief who is now an assistant professor at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre here at the University of Hong Kong), blogs available through GlobalVoices (a good source for what bloggers are saying right now about what's going on in Myanmar), and blogs linked to huffingtonpost.com (one of the more popular political blog aggregators in the U.S.). Perhaps you will be inspired to come out from the shadows and contribute!
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Further on the Question of the Week

I amended my original posting of the Question of the Week to add a link to this article by Prof. James Tang, which is a summary of a talk he gave in 2000 to the Hong Kong Democratic Foundation. Read this for a discussion of many of the central issues relating to the question I posed.
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2007-09-26

The Basics

While Mike Rowse was talking last week about Deng Xiaoping and his legendary indifference to the color of mice, I realized that I may have assumed that you are all well acquainted with Hong Kong's history and such terms as "The Basic Law" and "one country, two systems." But maybe not? For those who want to know the issues and what it was like around the time of the handover in 1997 when Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty, you might want to read some of the news stories from around that time and some of the articles written during the 10th anniversary in July. They should give you the basic background. I included the following readings for later in the semester, but you might find it useful to read these sooner:
Here is an Asiaweek cover story that appeared nearly two years after the handover. It deals with Hong Kong's struggle to reinvent itself after getting hit by the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98.

For those who want to read about how the Hong Kong government works and recent political reforms, you should read this paper which was produced by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in the U.S. and Civic Exchange, a think tank in Hong Kong.

If you would like to watch clips of the handover ceremonies ten years ago, you can view these on YouTube. First, the British farewell and then the handover ceremony itself.
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The Rule of Law - and the Question of the Week: How Does Being an SAR of the PRC Affect Hong Kong's Ability to Conduct its International Relations?

By the time of our next class, I will have been to the mainland twice since our last meeting. I was in Beijing last week to give a lecture to about 60 executives and government officials from Africa on a mid-career program at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. They were at the beginning of a study tour of China. Tomorrow, I will be in Shanghai to give a similar talk to a group of MBA students from the same university. I find it fascinating to meet people who are seeing China and what it has achieved for the first time. They are usually amazed by what they experience, particularly if they visit the big cities such as Beijing or Shanghai.

I also find it curious that, for many of these first-time visitors, Hong Kong is of limited interest. They want to know about China. To be sure, whenever I travel to the mainland, I am well reminded that Hong Kong is but a sideshow to the really big spectacular. But sitting here in this bustling city (and certainly after listening to a rousing presentation by that investment evangelist Mike Rowse), it is easy to think of Hong Kong as the main attraction.

Hong Kong of course is still one of the best places in the world in which to do business and it remains China's premier international financial center. Take a look at the "Doing Business 2008" report recently released by the World Bank. The study includes a ranking of economies according to how easy it is to do business. Singapore comes in at No. 1, followed by New Zealand and the United States. Hong Kong is fourth, while China is No. 83. What I find interesting is that if you look at the different sub-categories, Hong Kong ranks first when it comes to "enforcing contracts". This suggests something that I have long believed - that the key to Hong Kong's success really is the rule of law. I would argue that there is no other economy in East Asia with as reliable, efficient and honest a legal system as Hong Kong.

Now what does the rule of law have to do with Hong Kong's international relations? A lot. Because investors have a great deal of confidence in our legal system, they are willing to put their money here, to sign contracts here, to settle disputes in our courts, and to live here. We have kept to a minimum the inefficiency and wastage that can result from corruption and poor public governance. The rule of law has allowed Hong Kong to build up the legal infrastructure necessary to support its role as an international financial center and hub for business.

Daniel Fung will be able to tell us more about the uniqueness of Hong Kong's legal system, which I think goes to the heart of the concept of "one country, two systems". It's not just about communism and capitalism co-existing; it's also about two very different legal systems co-existing in the same sovereign entity. It is also about two different, separated societies that nonetheless are part of the same culture and share traditions, language and common history.

This brings me to the Question of the Week: How does Hong Kong's being a special administrative region (SAR) of China affect its ability to conduct its international relations? I guess what I would like you to think about is how Hong Kong's constitution affects its position in the world and its ability to interact with the rest of the world.

Now, I'm not just talking about the simple fact that Hong Kong is not an independent nation and so we cannot be a member of the United Nations. That much is obvious. But as an SAR of China, Hong Kong has to be conscious of its relationship with the mainland - even as it fosters ties abroad. Are we hampered from being fully engaged with the world because we are part of China and not an independent country? Or is it in fact an advantage, particularly since Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy under Chinese sovereignty and China is a booming economy that is attracting investors from all over the world? What are the implications of closer integration with the mainland, particularly if the divisions between our two systems start to blur? Could the advantages we enjoy because of our separateness - the rule of law, for example - be compromised?

Those are quite a lot of questions. What I would like us to explore are the implications of Hong Kong's constitutional position - both the positive and the negative - for its relations with the rest of the world. Over the coming weeks, we will examine specific issues that will help us understand better the contours of Hong Kong's autonomy and the ways in which the SAR is connected to the international community: the rule of law, the business environment and economy, diplomatic relationships, the media, the political system, the financial system, and the role of corporations and civil society. Our discussions should help us better understand how our domestic situation affects our international relationships.

Any thoughts and comments are welcome. Take a look at this article by Prof. James Tang, which is a summary of remarks he made to the Hong Kong Democratic Foundation in 2000. It might stimulate some ideas for you to consider.

In framing your comments, you might consider the issues Prof. Tang raises, some of what we have already heard from Malik Peiris and Mike Rowse, as well as what you have read. But also bring your own ideas to the table. Don't hold back.
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