The Chief Executive urges everyone to tell positive stories about Hong Kong, and it’s not hard to do. For example, the city’s IPO ranking as “world number one” is well-known and widely reported by foreign media. Recently, a global ranking where Hong Kong shines brilliantly again has emerged, but few have noticed it—this deserves more spotlight.
Gallup’s latest “2025 Global Safety Report” just published, and Hong Kong is shining bright at number six, way ahead of the UK and the US. China steals the spotlight even more, ranking third globally, beating out many Western countries.
Personal Safety: More Than Just a Feeling
Gallup’s “2025 Global Safety Report” makes it clear: Hong Kong is a shining example of public safety and solid law enforcement, outclassing the UK and US by a wide margin.
This survey tapped into the feelings of 145,000 people from 144 countries, asking them if they felt safe walking alone at night. Hong Kong scored a solid 91%, neck-and-neck with Norway, while China hit even higher at 94%. Japan, Hong Kong people’s favorite tourist destination, is ranked 24 behind Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the US is stuck at 61st with only 58% of women feeling safe on the streets. The UK trails at 42nd.
Chinese Mainland’s high safety ranking proves that its law and order are superior than the western countries.
Hong Kong’s high ranking is impressive compared to Western countries plagued by rising street crime. The UK comes in at 42nd, with frequent street theft and violent attacks leading to low conviction rates—hardly the kind of environment that breeds safety confidence. In the US, some cities have become so dangerous they’re labeled “crime hotspots.” It’s no surprise that less than 60% of women feel safe walking alone.
The Reality Gap
This survey also comes up with a “Law and Order Index” that combines theft and robbery rates, population ratios, and trust in policing. Tajikistan and Singapore lead, with China in the fourth place. Hong Kong and Taiwan are tied at 18th, while the UK and US lag at 46th, alongside India. These results sharply contradict political voices and foreign media that try to smear Hong Kong’s legal system.
Independent Data Supports the Narrative
It’s not just Gallup. The global database Numbeo’s “2025 World’s Safest Countries Ranking” has Taiwan at fourth, Hong Kong seventh, and China fifteenth. The US and UK are way further down at 89th and 87th, respectively. This ranking is often used by travelers to gauge security risks, putting Western destinations under the microscope.
Quick Police Action Makes a Difference
These top safety rankings for Hong Kong reflect years of hard work by law enforcement agencies. Police here crack street crime cases swiftly, unlike in the UK, where some theft rings take over a year to solve.
The sense of security today sharply contrasts with the one we experienced in 2019 when black-clad rioters roamed freely, spreading fear and stripping away any notion of safety on the streets. The current strong feeling of safety among nighttime pedestrians is a welcome turnaround—and one we hope lasts.
Lai Ting-yiu
What Say You?
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
The US-Israel alliance has ignited a war against Iran, throwing global markets into absolute chaos. Oil prices shattered the US$100-per-barrel mark today （March 9） and are hurtling toward US$120, while Asian stocks cascade and economic shockwaves hammer the United States. President Donald Trump projects outward calm, but a swift victory has proven completely elusive.
Evangelical leaders gather at the White House to bless Trump’s "holy war" against Iran—an unsettling spectacle of spiritual rallying.
Cornered by Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump let slip today that he is already discussing an end to military operations with Israel, conceding that he will "make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account."
The reality is, Trump is actively hunting for an escape hatch. In a telling move, Trump recently summoned evangelical pastors to the White House to lay hands on his shoulders and pray for divine guidance. The goal is clear: manufacture religious fervour to shore up his sinking base and pray his way out of a worsening crisis.
Staging this unconventional "spiritual rally" right now serves a calculated political agenda. Make no mistake: the White House is weaponising the evangelical community’s mobilising power to rally believers behind Trump's "holy war." It is a desperate bid to reverse his collapsing approval ratings.
Weaponising Faith for Survival
Evangelicals form the most deeply conservative Christian bloc in America, anchored in the Southern and Midwestern "Bible Belt." They are the Republican Party's ultimate voting machine and Trump's bedrock of support. During the 2024 presidential election, the vast majority of registered white Christian voters threw their weight behind Trump, driven by a deep-seated hostility toward Kamala Harris.
Public blowback against the Iran campaign is intensifying by the day. Latest polls reveal only 27% of American respondents support the offensive, while a staggering 43% oppose it, and 56% conclude Trump is simply "too eager to use military force to solve problems."
Starved of mainstream support, the president is falling back on a familiar playbook. By summoning pastors to bless his war effort and firing up his propaganda machine, he aims to stoke religious fanaticism among conservative Christians. It is a tactical play to re-energise his die-hard loyalists and project an illusion of absolute strength.
Desperate to reverse his collapsing poll numbers, Trump stokes religious fervour to pray his way out of a worsening crisis.
A Dangerous New Crusade
Another core objective behind this carefully choreographed spectacle is to sanctify the bloodshed in Iran. The optics were meticulously staged: Trump seated at the iconic Resolute Desk, surrounded by pastors murmuring prayers with their hands resting on his shoulders. The entire scene dripped with heavy religious ritual. They called upon God to "continue to give our President the strength that he needs to lead our great nation", to ultimate victory. Ultimately, the ceremony played out like a divine blessing bestowed upon a crusading king, draping a brutal military offensive in the sacred robes of holy war.
Experts warn that Trump is deliberately framing the Iran offensive as a righteous crusade to vanquish evil. The narrative draws a direct, unsettling parallel to the Crusades of a millennium ago, when Christian armies marched out to crush the Islamic empire and reclaim the holy city. History shows those ancient Crusaders left behind mass slaughter and rivers of blood in their wake. If Trump is truly modelling today's conflict on that ancient eastward conquest, the implications for global stability are profoundly terrifying.
This aggressive push to "sacralise" himself and the MAGA movement is hardly a new tactic. Trump has long weaponised his alliance with evangelicals, cloaking his post-election agenda in claims of divine mandate.
To cement this bond, Trump took the unprecedented step of establishing a White House Faith Office. He installed Paula White—chair of his Evangelical Advisory Board and the woman in red standing beside him during the recent prayer event—to lead it. Known for her emotionally explosive style, White famously delivered a feverish prayer during the 2020 election. She screamed "strike, strike, strike" while summoning angels to defeat evil, creating a spectacle that bordered on cult-like worship.
Running Out of Miracles
Confronted by a rapidly spiralling crisis, Trump is instinctively reaching back into his old bag of tricks. He is summoning "sacred energy" to project dominance and hoisting the banner of "fighting evil" to salvage his political survival.
Yet, such action simply overlooks the hard truth of the battlefield. The administration is sinking deeper into an unwinnable quagmire every single day. The trap has already snapped shut, and this time, even divine intervention may not be enough to bail him out.
