Thieves crying 'stop thief'

Chief Executive (CE) Leung Chun-ying began taking his annual leave on Tuesday. Acting Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Tuesday, in reply to a question about accusations of "splitting society" against the CE, that Hong Kong society enjoys freedom and diversity of expression as always and it is very important for the CE and principal officials to get feedback directly from local residents. She added that there is nothing inappropriate in such interactions.

Lam's comment was met with opposition fury as expected, because what she said is absolutely true. Hong Kong society has never been without different opinions. From the traditional left-, center- or right-wing political standing to the difference between the pro-establishment and opposition camps after the handover, and from direct elections of district councillors to individual citizens' public debates and even profanity-filled shouting matches, not a single day has gone by without people hearing some kind of disagreement or even confrontation, but the society as a whole has largely remained peaceful, united and rational. There is no sign of a large-scale "fight to the death" or "it's you or us" situation just yet.

That said, the political environment has indeed changed since Leung took the CE's office. Protest rallies and marches are not only more frequent but also becoming more violent. A particularly notable change has been that many protesters are not afraid of law-enforcement officers anymore and some have refused to follow the rules and even confronted the police with verbal abuse and physical violence, which was extremely rare in the past. Now it is becoming a routine exercise for many unruly individuals and quite a few of them have been arrested and charged with disrupting public order and/or assaulting police officers and later found guilty and sentenced imprisonment by a court of law.

All these worrying developments were instigated by the opposition parties, which are now targeting the police force so that they can accuse the law enforcers of using excessive force or partiality. It is the opposition camp that has been obstructing the lawful administration of the SAR government with all kinds of dirty tricks, including provoking the police to undermine the rule of law. It is trying to tear society apart so that it can profit from social unrest.

This is an excerpted translation of a Ta Kung Pao editorial published on Aug 21.

Beware market overreaction

Fear that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will pull back on purchasing federal debt triggered manic selling in Asian markets on Tuesday as several economies in the region saw their currency and stock markets fall by big margins, with the Hong Kong stock market losing 493 points to close at 21,970 for the steepest drop in seven weeks. The capital exodus prompted by worries that the Fed is cutting back debt purchase also gave some pundits a reason to sound the alarm on the prospect of emerging economies.

However, this is not the first time international speculators played the scare tactic to profit from panic selling and certainly will not be their last. The latest fall in Asian markets was apparently another example of overreaction to unsubstantiated hearsay. Given the fact that the leading economies (the US, EU and China) are doing relatively well at the moment, the financial market is in a good place in terms of growth and investors should think twice before falling for such scare tactics.

Huge amounts of cheap capital have flooded emerging markets since leading Western economies led by the US began quantitative easing (QE) to stimulate their own recovery, bringing temporary prosperity as well as growing risk of an asset bubble burst to the developing countries. The Fed is expected to begin reducing debt purchases as early as next month, triggering a mass return of capital back to developed nations that shook emerging economies as well as their financial markets and exchange rates quite violently. Some fortune-tellers went so far as to predict another financial Asian financial storm could be on the way, contributing to the panic-driven market fall in the region, including Hong Kong's.

It should be noted that several economic indicators showed better than expected results in recent months while the US and European economies continue to stabilize. The mainland economy in particular is improving and gives neighboring economies a good reason to feel confident about their own prospects in the near future. Speculators thrive in market fluctuations and will never stop trying to induce ups and downs for their own benefit. The US cannot afford to abandon QE all of a sudden, which means speculators can reuse the scare tactic as often as they feel like it until its "magic" wears off. Investors here should be on guard against overreaction and losing money in "Fed-fear" games.

This is an excerpted translation of a Wen Wei Po editorial published on Aug 21.

(HK Edition 08/22/2013 page9)