The return of Roach and his poisoned tongue

The apply-named Stephen Roach wonders why no one agreed to his speech at the 6th US-China Hong Kong Forum at the Fullerton Hotel in Hong Kong last month. He had returned to his old habit of damning Hong Kong to an audience sympathetic to China and its southern pearl.

And he made no apologies for his statements in a follow-up on TVB’s Straight Talk program on Tuesday evening. In fact, he stood by his convictions that if China falls, Hong Kong falls. In other words, Hong Kong was too dependent on China.

Roach’s address “Beyond the Middleman: Hong Kong’s Influence in Superpower Rivalry” questioned whether Hong Kong’s unique features allow it to play an independent role in tempering geopolitical rifts, such as the one between the US and China. “Hong Kong’s capacity to serve as an honest broker in the Sino-American conflict has been compromised by China’s heavy hand,” he told his audience. So says a man living under the shadow of a national capital whose heavy hand is virtually controlling every major city in the US and crippling the national economy.

Roach was former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, based in Hong Kong and is currently a faculty member of Yale University.

He suggests that locals chafe at the suggestion that Hong Kong has become “another big Chinese city”. Of course it is, like New York in the US, Sydney in Australia and London in the UK. The difference being is that Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy with a rule of law different from its motherland. It is the common law system practiced in all British Commonwealth countries plus the US. The mainland practices the civil law system used in all other places, such as Europe. Being “another big Chinese city” is a reality and something we are proud of. Only the separates’ movement differ in opinion.

Again, he has a dig at our judicial system and the resignation of a number of foreign judges sitting on the Court of Final Appeal, drawing on the critique of former British Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption who gathers his opinions from Hong Kong separate activists in the House of Lords.

According to the 2025 World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index, Hong Kong’s overall rule of law score ranks 24th out of 143 countries worldwide. Regionally, Hong Kong ranks 6th out of 15 countries in East Asia and the Pacific.

He argues that the Hong Kong of old has been replaced by a new version that more closely resembled a China-centric administrative region, with Deng Xiaoping’s model of “one country, two systems” morphing into “one country, one system.” He cited three reasons for believing this: First, Hong Kong’s economy, which is tightly correlated with the Chinese economy, remains weighed down by China’s protracted sluggishness. Second, the Chinese government’s post-2019 crackdown continues to weaken the rule of law, free speech, and press freedom in Hong Kong.

Third, Hong Kong is caught in the crossfire of the worsening Sino-American conflict, driving a wedge between the city, whose growth depends heavily on economic openness, and some of its trading partners.

Hong Kong’s economy is doing very well. In the latest World Population Review, Hong Kong was placed fourth in the world for net inflows of foreign investments. It is estimated that the total foreign investment in 2024 brought to Hong Kong's economy exceeds more than HK$67.7 billion, which also represents a record high and a nearly 10 per cent increase compared to 2023. These companies expected to create 6,864 job opportunities in Hong Kong during their first year of operation, an over 67 per cent increase compared to 2023.

There has been no weakening of the rule of law, in fact it has been strengthened by China’s national security laws and local safeguarding Hong Kong’s security laws. It’s worth noting that in the 2025 World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index, Hong Kong scored third place for law and order in 15 regional countries.

He talks of a shrinking expat talent pool yet Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) announced a record-breaking year for foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2024, assisting 539 overseas and Mainland companies to set up or expand their businesses in Hong Kong. This represents a 41 per cent increase compared to 2023, reflecting the strong appeal of Hong Kong as a leading business hub in the region.

He also fails to take into account the long term benefits the Northern Metropolis will bring to Hong Kong, including its magnet to draw in top class international talent from all parts of the globe. In fact, during his Straight Talk interview he appeared oblivious that such a massive plan for the future of Hong Kong enabling one third of the city’s land mass even existed.

He said for China’s stifling influence on Hong Kong’s governance, three major newspapers – Apple Daily, Stand News, and Citizen News – have closed since 2019, and other outlets such as Citizens’ Radio, FactWire, InMedia, Hong Kong Free Press, and Mad Dog Daily have either ceased operations or significantly scaled back.

The three papers which closed down did so voluntarily. Stand News and Citizen News could not be labelled “major newspapers” and Apply Daily run by Jimmy Lai currently facing trial for treason-related charges earned its wide circulation for sex and gossip coverage before turning to political commentary. There has been no scaling back on media coverage of Hong Kong. Hong Kong Free Press is a classic example of how the media can walk the red line without crossing it.

Roach is full of contradictions, swaying with the wind on public opinion. In February this year he heavily criticised Hong Kong for its deceiving appearances in a lengthy op-ed piece in the Financial Times. He later did a U-turn in a Bloomberg report in June praising Hong Kong’s successes. Now he says we’re in “for an inevitable correction.”

But he never listens. He follows the economic tractotomy all the way to 2030 and not what he has been told time and again: It’s the people who make Hong Kong tick. Hong Kong operates with one heartbeat to achieve one objective: Success!

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

When Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po decided to pour $1.2 billion into sports promotion, he was investing in Hong Kong’s youth to lead the city into a secure and bright future.

There is no doubt that sport develops the mind to positive thinking. And that is what is needed among Hong Kong’s youth.

Chan’s cash input into the Arts and Sports Development Fund will be used to strengthen training for team sports athletes, improve the professional standards of coaches, as well as supporting and exploring more diverse and higher-level sports competitions to be held in Hong Kong.

This injection of funds will also enable organizations to develop and promote sport to international levels to attract tourism by staging major events like the Rugby Sevens and professional golf and tennis matches.

In Hong Kong there is virtually no graffiti, as our youth are too preoccupied with study or work to mess about with vandalism, unlike in the west where buildings and subways are defaced by vandals with too much idle time on their hands.

Hong Kong youth are keen sports participants and through those activity come discipline. Thus, no graffiti.

During his budget speech, Chan praised Hong Kong athletes for having achieved outstanding results on the international stage. Last year, local athletes achieved historic results in the National Games, winning nine gold, two silver and eight bronze medals. With this in mind, Chan allocated more resources to proactively promote sports in the community, support elite sports, maintain Hong Kong as a centre for major international sports events, enhance professionalism in sports, and develop sports as an industry.

However, their minds are still young and subject to exploitation by undesirable forces as we learned in 2019 when the US Department of State’s National Endowment for Development (NED) infiltrated primary and secondary schools as well a university graduates and convinced them to rebel against Hong Kong and seek its independence. There was a price to pay for the young rebels as well as the community, which suffered losses in property and lives.

The NED is still here waiting to strike again when the time is ripe, and Hong Kong will be prepared for such an onslaught.

The minds of our youth must be attuned to recognizing the good and the bad. They must be able to recognize that the propaganda uttered by NED is false and must be repelled. Primary school children can become intensely focused on peer relationships, which means team dynamics can be a powerful vehicle for learning conflict resolution. And this is where sports comes in.

Playing sports teaches far more than how to throw a ball or run faster. It builds a specific set of mental, emotional, and social skills that show up in classrooms, careers, and relationships long after the final whistle. The lessons range from obvious ones like teamwork to less visible changes in how the brain handles stress, makes decisions, and stays focused under pressure.

Throughout their adolescent years young players grow from being mere team members to team leaders. They learn as a team and the importance that has on their future life.

Research on athlete leadership development shows that effective team captains learn specific skills through their roles: clear communication, emotional control, tactical decision-making, and the ability to make sure every teammate has a voice. These aren’t traits people are born with. They’re practiced and refined through the daily demands of being on a team.

Not all sports teach the same things in the same way. A 2025 study in Frontiers in Psychology found a clear split: team sports primarily build psychological resilience through social support, while individual sports like swimming, tennis, or track build them through self-efficacy, your belief in your own ability to handle challenges.

Sports don’t just work your body. They sharpen three core mental abilities that an psychologist grouped the term as an “executive function”: working memory (holding and juggling information in your head), impulse control (resisting a snap reaction to make a better choice), and cognitive flexibility (switching between tasks or strategies on the fly). A meta-analysis published in Brain Sciences found large improvements in all three areas among children and adolescents who participated in sports-based programs.

With a pure mind developed by sports, our youth today, with support from the government, will lead Hong Kong into a futuristic world planned by their forefathers and shielding us from external forces which threaten our existence.