Hong Kong’s ‘high tolerance’ of diverse views key to city’s success: minister

Hong Kong must preserve its cultural advantage of having a “high tolerance” of differing views, the justice minister has said, citing press freedom and the free flow of information as critical to the financial hub’s global status.

Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok also said on Saturday that Hong Kong’s political predictability was a key attraction for outside investors, though he conceded it would be difficult to fix the city’s perception problem in the short term.

President Xi Jinping last month reaffirmed Beijing’s commitment to uphold the “one country, two systems” governing principle at the inauguration ceremony of the new Macau leader, saying the arrangement embodied the values of peace, tolerance, openness and sharing.

Lam, who spoke at a seminar marking the sixth anniversary of the Hong Kong News-Expo, placed emphasis on the value of tolerance as a key feature setting the city apart from its mainland Chinese counterparts.

He said freedom of speech was an important indicator of social tolerance, and the city’s ability to listen to different views when addressing challenges had always been its key to success.

“To maintain Hong Kong’s institutional advantages, one aspect is our cultural advantage – we are very inclusive and totally don’t mind that others are different. We have a high tolerance level. We have a sense of boundaries and we respect that other people have their own matters,” he said.