My Take | Why Singapore is superior to Hong Kong in almost every way
- From the birth of the Lion City in 1960s Asia, a region that was up in geopolitical flames, to its struggle to become one of the world’s most successful economies, there is actually no comparison
Maybe Ronnie Chan can counter, as you would if you are a tycoon, that the capitalisation of Hong Kong’s stock market far exceeds that of Singapore or that the latter’s IPO market is minuscule compared to his city’s. Hong Kong has Disneyland, but hey, they have Universal Studios.
But all these comparisons are superficial.
The fundamental fact is that Singapore is a city state, rather than just a city. That means it has had to struggle with all the trials and tribulations, the dangers and pressure of statehood in a region that only grew richer and more stable in the last few decades. Indeed, the success of Singapore contributed greatly to regional and diplomatic stability and prosperity.
Hong Kong? Having grown rich under the tutelage of British colonialism, it has been protected and managed to prosper by riding on the coattails of an economically resurgent China. It has always had the Chinese hinterland to lean on.
Singapore, by contrast, was forced out of a federation by a hostile Malaysian hinterland and has had to defend itself in the whirlwinds of geopolitics from the Cold War, and now again, from the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China in the region. The birth and survival of Singapore, let alone its economic success that became a model for Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms and opening, was already by itself a miracle. And now, with other Asean nations, Singapore is again playing a significant role in helping to moderate the Chinese-American rivalry from spiralling out of control. In international politics, it has always punched well above its weight.