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HK a terrific success story, says Patten

By Andrew Moody (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-21 07:33

LONDON: Former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten says the city, which used to be under British colonial rule, remains one of the freest places in Asia - 12 years after its return to the motherland.

Speaking to China Daily in London, Patten, who was the last Hong Kong governor until 1997, said the special administrative region remains successful, despite international concerns at the time of the transfer.

"It still has a unique quality, combining the rule of law with its Chineseness. It is still a terrific success story and it has a real sense of citizenship and a real attachment to civil values," he said. "It remains one of the freest places in Asia. Where would I prefer to live? Hong Kong or Singapore? The answer would be Hong Kong. No argument."

Patten, now Lord Patten as a member of the British House of Lords, also insisted that anything that destabilizes China could put the world economy in jeopardy.

"The last thing the world wants is for anything to go wrong in China. If at the end of the 19th century, the Midwest of America had been devastated by epidemic disease and Chicago had ceased to develop, it would have had a huge effect on globalization then."

He said the world should not fear China emerging as an economic power because it has held similar dominance in 18 out of the last 20 centuries.

"The West is both worried and obsessed about China. One of the reasons for global growth in the last few years is that both China and India have joined the global economy."

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On the global economic downturn, Patten says Chinese consumers could play a major role in lifting the gloom.

"The real big issue now is how you get the Chinese to spend more and the Americans to save more. These are not just matters of government policy but are cultural," he said. "It is interesting that in the 1920s when the global economy was last having a nervous breakdown America was the surplus economy, now it is in deficit."

Patten dismisses the notion that China is in any way insular or standing aloof in the world, as some critics have suggested.

"Which political philosophers have affected the development of China over the past 50 years? Well, you have Confucius always, although he wasn't a political philosopher, you have Karl Marx, you have Lenin and Adam Smith (18th century economist), none of which are exactly Chinese names," he said.