Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government
Six years after the bloody riots in Hong Kong, China hawk, The New York Times (NYT), is still calling the incident a “peaceful demonstration for democracy.”The world was a witness as television networks from every country flashed vivid scenes of bloody clashes between the police and rioters. There was no denying the fact they were anything but full-blown riots.
The June 30 issue of the newspaper carried a special report by stringer Tiffany May reporting from Hong Kong that three activists were still “paying the price” for demanding democracy in the Special Administrative Region (SAR). But the world’s witnesses know better: Democracy was hardly an issue. May painted a picture of the trio facing hardship after release from prison where they served various sentences for rioting. They had trouble finding jobs and lost many friends, their life had become a void.
At the time of the riots in 2019, Hong Kong had a fully elected legislature (50 per cent by geographic constituencies and 50 per cent by peer-based functional constituencies), the president was elected from among its members and the SAR’s Chief Executive was elected by a 1,500 strong electoral committee. [The US president is elected by only 500 electoral committee].
So, democracy could hardly be an issue for the riots, except for the NYT and other western media which needed the catchphrase to justify their support for the rioters. After all, they could not be seen to be supporting cold blooded rioters who had an ulterior motive to overthrow the government, which was their ultimate aim.
Ms May said in her essay that her chosen unnamed three had joined the protests “hoping for more democracy.” The only step further in the democratic movement for Hong Kong is universal suffrage – one man, one vote for the entire legislature – and that is already enshrined in the SAR’s Basic Law. It is coming, it’s just a matter of time.
Hong Kong has been very vulnerable to foreign influences ever since the handover in 1997. It thrives on a unique formular of one country, two systems ( a bastion of capitalism in a communist regime). And it is against the principles of the US’s call for universal democracy.
Capitalism and communism are a contradiction of terms it argues and therefore cannot succeed. But that is why it is unique and after 28 years, the formula is working. Hong Kong is as successful today as it was in pre-1997 under British colonial administration.
It is successful because the people of Hong Kong want it to succeed. And it is absolutely necessary for it to succeed for China to fulfil its obligations to resume its administration of Taiwan. But it is not in the interests of the US to see China embrace democracy, while maintaining its communist ideology, as part of its family. The pragmatic attitude of China is a positive step towards world peace and the propagated threat of communism dominating the world does not exist, except in the mind of the US.
For the US to halt the progress of China’s growing position in the world, it needed a Chinese scapegoat to fail, and Hong Kong was the target. Through its various spy agencies, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the CIA, the US infiltrated Hong Kong’s gullible lawmakers, workers and youth to create mayhem. And through the Five Eyes intelligence network (US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), it convinced world leaders that democracy was not working in Hong Kong.
In fact, since the upheavals, the legislature has been expanded to include greater elected members from 70 to 90 seats to voice their concerns when vetting government actions. The new members replaced those who were ousted because of their influence by the NED.
The NYT activists have only themselves to blame for their loneliness. They chose the path laid out by foreign forces to change the direction of Hong Kong. But it was the wrong path and, like all criminals, they had to pay the consequences for their actions.
Mark Pinkstone
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
Hong Kong is facing a dilemma as more locals are spending their dollars outside of the city than what the visitors are bringing in.
Relaxed visa/permit restrictions for locals and foreign residents alike is making it easier for travel to the mainland while inbound traffic crossing the boundary is low budget and spending less on accommodation and food.
Tourism is an important pillar for Hong Kong’s economy. In pre-COVID times, tourism accounted for about four per cent of the territory’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provided for about six per cent of total employment.
In Hong Kong’s heydays, the city saw about 65 million tourists in 2018, of which 51 million came from the mainland. It was boom time for retailers and restaurants. Long queues of mainland shoppers would line the streets along Canton Road and elsewhere waiting to buy luxury items from Gucci, Prada, Tiffany’s and other high-end stores which set up shop in Hong Kong to tap this lucrative market.
Today many restaurants and retail outlets are closing down, especially in the boundary towns of Sheung Shui and Yuen Long. The market is no longer there, and high rental costs make it almost impossible to survive.
During the 2025/2026 festive season, Hong Kong saw a 25.6 per cent rise in inbound trips on New Year’s Day 2026 (664,338 trips), but this was still countered by a massive 515,954 outbound exits on the same day.
Winston Yeung, chair of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants & Related Trades, told local media that business was sluggish during the Christmas holiday, with some restaurant owners calling it “the slowest business at Christmas over the past 10 years.”
Unfortunately, the local market is not propping up the tourism outlets. Instead, the locals are traveling in large numbers to Shenzhen and Macau and other parts of China for day trips or extended holidays, thereby providing a leakage in the local economy.
While Hong Kong received more than an estimated 45 million visitors last year, more than about 100 million departures were recorded by the Immigration Department of locals leaving Hong Kong by plane, train or bus mainly to the mainland (75 per cent), and to other major Asian destinations.
Hong Kong has 320 hotels offering 92,907 rooms, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Despite mainlanders’ choice of more budget accommodation, occupancy rates for the hotel industry remained high at 88 per cent last year. The major hotels are not affected by the change in mainlanders’ preferences as they rely more on the affluent international tourist, visiting Hong Kong for business, conventions or holidays.
Property developer, Caldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) says Hong Kong’s hospitality market currently presents various investment-ready assets including rare investment opportunities for upper upscale and luxury hotels. These high-end properties are particularly attractive due to their resilience, as they are less reliant on Chinese group travelers and enjoy sustained spending power among affluent individual travelers and international visitors. This makes them attractive for investors seeking stable returns in a dynamic market.
To encourage locals to spend more at home and at the same time provide a bonus for tourists, Hong Kong has organised a series of mega events, many held in the new sports stadium on the site of the old Kai Tak airport in Kowloon. Traditional events in 2026 will include the French May Arts festival in March, Hong Kong Book Fair in July, Hong Kong performing Arts Expo in October, the World Snooker Grand Prix in February, and, of course, the international dragon boat races in June.
Blockbusters will include BlackPink World tour in January, the Hong Kong marathon, which draws in runners and their supports from around the world, and the Hong Kong Tennis Open also in January.
That is good for the inbound and outbound tourists alike. But more needs to be done to tip the tourism scales to a surplus for Hong Kong’s economy to grow at a faster pace. As the saying goes charity starts at home, so it is up to us as local residents who have reaped the benefits of the city to spend more in local restaurants and retail outlets than spend it elsewhere. Support local enterprises. After all, the restaurants in Hong Kong are ranked among the best in the world and are tax free as against a value-added tax applied to restaurants and shops in the mainland.
