HK's pride comes before a fall

Everyone is free to take pride in their achievements.

So it is absolutely fine that the SAR refuted claims by Vancouver-based Fraser Institute that waning confidence in judicial independence and increased interference in the rule of law have been responsible for the city's decline to become the world's second freest economy, rather than the freest.

Ever since 1996 when the research began, Hong Kong has always been ranked the freest.

The latest ranking accorded Hong Kong an overall score of 8.55 out of 10. Singapore, named the freest economy this year, scored 8.56.

Although Hong Kong's chief rival is 0.01 point ahead of it, both are effectively on an equal footing overall.

The concern is whether Hong Kong's score will fall further in future.

Was the Fraser Institute biased?

It could be said to be since English-speaking and European countries make up eight of the top 10. Yet it may not be biased given that the first and second freest economies - Singapore and Hong Kong - are Asian.

If it is true that everyone is free to take pride in what they are doing, then the SAR is no less free to take pride in the progress that local officials say they have been making in recent years - from stability to prosperity, so to speak.

The only conflict is probably a different understanding of what is happening here.

Unless Hong Kong were content to live on its own without a need to interact with the rest of the world - including critics who ranked it less favorably this year and last - it would be in the city's own interest to understand better why Fraser and others, such as the Heritage Foundation, have changed their views about Hong Kong, which believes it has been following a proper course.

Why is there such a gap in understanding?

As Hong Kong officials hit out at what they claim is bias by Fraser Institute, the Swiss IMD Business School yesterday lowered the SAR's position in the World Talent Ranking from 14th to 16th - again behind Singapore.

In 2021, Hong Kong ranked 11th.

In 2021, US conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation simply removed Hong Kong from its Economic Freedom Index after having placed it at the top of the chart in the previous 25 consecutive years.

To be fair to the city's judiciary, it is true that - despite certain controversial rulings - it has been able to maintain a high degree of independence.

For example, ex-RTHK journalist Bao Choy had her controversial conviction for looking up vehicle registration information overturned by the Court of Final Appeal earlier this year.

As government officials repeated that Hong Kong had entered a new stage of advancing from stability to prosperity, should they also try to understand why others have arrived at a perception so different from theirs?

Hong Kong is not a lone wolf that can take pride in everything it feels it has achieved.

It is part of the international community in which how others think about us also matters.