We journalists hate big words. But sometimes we can't really avoid them because too many politicians and commentators love to use big words to cover their inadequacies or, worse, lies.

One such multi-syllable tongue-twisting word that has been bandied about by these so-called opinion leaders in Hong Kong is "marginalization," which is their catchword for losing out to mainland cities, especially Shanghai, in servicing the mainland's economic growth.

Despite repeated assurances from Beijing that Hong Kong will not be marginalized, many politicians, masquerading as commentators, are feverishly trying to fan the public fear of "marginalization" by twisting and manipulating economic data to fit their purpose.

These self-styled economic gurus have deemed Hong Kong "irrelevant" by citing various comparative data showing that Hong Kong is lagging behind Shanghai or other mainland cities. But they fail to come up with any convincing arguments or prove that this data is at all relevant to the issue. Such economic chicanery is played up by a largely gullible press which is either too timid or ignorant to question the public comments of people who claim to be in some position of authority, no matter how dubious those claims may be.

Not too long ago, the press in Hong Kong made a big issue about a set of routine government immigration figures that showed a slowdown in the growth of the expatriate community. "Hong Kong is losing its appeal to foreign professionals," screamed the headline of a front-page story in one of the local Chinese language newspapers. This headline summed up the tone of the reporting by nearly the entire news media.

But the elements required for a sober analysis of the government figures had largely been ignored. The term "expatriate" is very loose. It includes managers and executives at one end of the scale, and unskilled labourers at the other end. The published government immigration statistics, which were the basis for all of these scaremongering news stories, did not provide a breakdown of the professional qualifications of the incoming and outgoing expatriates.

But this lack of vital information has not stopped many politicians, commentators and newspapers from prophesizing the decline of Hong Kong. In a lame effort to make the case, the reporter of a local English language newspaper quoted one self-employed expatriate lawyer as saying that he had decided to move to Shanghai. That's sloppy reporting one swallow doesn't make a summer.

A recent survey that ranked Hong Kong behind Shanghai in the so-called "desirability" stakes has stirred another flurry of doomsday prognosis. Interviewed by a local newspaper, an author of the survey defended the validity of his findings by citing the fact that the container handling capacity of Shanghai's Yangshan port, when completed, would exceed that of the Hong Kong container port. As it was, his comments merely helped to destroy the credibility of his survey rather than defend it.

Whatever ulterior motives they may have, some politicians have continued to beat the "marginalization" drum. In a newspaper column several weeks ago, a local politician sounded the shrill warning of "marginalization" by pointing out that the total gross domestic product (GDP) of the Guangdong Province now exceeds that of Hong Kong.

But the writer failed to explain how and why Guangdong's expanding GDP would undermine the "relevance" of Hong Kong as a regional financial centre. One would assume that the opposite is true because Guangdong is such an important hinterland of Hong Kong. A fast growing economy in Guangdong will only create more business opportunities for Hong Kong rather than snuff out its existence, as this commentator has so wrongly suggested.

To be sure, Hong Kong will face many challenges in a fast changing global economic environment. But the key to overcoming these potential problems does not lie in building the tallest building in the world, adding berths to the container port, constructing the fastest railway line or playing host to the largest expatriate community.

The key lies in the software, the people and the system. In this respect, Hong Kong remains miles ahead of its most obvious competitors.

Email: jamesleung@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/18/2006 page4)