Donald Tsang on Hong Kong and Singapore

by Knowledge@SMU, 17 January 2011

0 comments

Facebook

Digg

Twitter

topics:
Management Risk Management

tags:
Asian financial crisis Donald Tsang Hong Kong Hong Kong dollar peg Shanghai Singapore Yuan

In between running one of the most famous commercial and financial cities in Asia, if not the world, Donald Tsang still finds time to dream – a dream where he hopes to see the establishment of an integrated Asian currency regime – much like the euro.

However, Tsang, Chief Executive (CE) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), as the former British colony is known following its return to China, knows that this dream – if it comes true – will take decades, and not just years. Certainly, this will not happen while the Chinese yuan is not convertible as the region will require “an anchor currency”; and it will not happen during his term as Hong Kong’s CE.

However, “I believe it will happen within this century, and I hope I can see it during my life time,” said Tsang, at the recent Ho Rih Hwa Leadership in Asia Public Lecture Series organised by the Singapore Management University (SMU). The talk was entitled “The Financial Crisis – Lessons learnt and the way ahead for Asia.”

Tsang, a career civil servant, was elevated to the top job of the CE in 2005. Prior to this, he was the Chief Secretary for Administration. One of the biggest highlights of his career was when he served as Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary from 1995 to 2001, when he fended off financial speculators during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998 and steered the city’s subsequent recovery.

Greater resilience

Since the traumatic experience of the Crisis, where governments were overthrown and numerous companies bankrupted, Asia, in the current crisis, has become more resilient – thanks to lessons learnt and remembered more than a decade ago.

“We had to dig deep within ourselves to examine what went wrong to ensure we did not make the same mistakes again. Some decisions were unpopular and could have meant a loss in the next elections; but we had to address the problems facing us then,” said Tsang.

This explains why a liquidity-flush Asia has not been shackled by the toxic investments nor asset bubbles that had brought the United States to its knees and sent the global economy into a tailspin; and why no Hong Kong bank has gone bust or required government bailout.

However, new and different sets of demands have surfaced. Today, Asia is facing various challenges as global systems and structures realign in response to the economic crisis. This includes the “flattening” (integration) of financial and economic regimes; interconnectedness and interdependence of systems; “societies, clamouring for inclusiveness”, with social disparities attracting more attention and action; and the emergence of a stronger Asia, led by China and India.

Tsang believes that the region will emerge stronger from this global crisis to achieve a higher standard of living, as well as the freedom to enjoy its prosperity. Indeed, Asia can be the foundation of stability for the rest of the world.

From Tsang’s point of view, there are four key elements essential to Asia’s rise: vision, values, integration and partnership.

Comment on this article

Your name: *

E-mail: *

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Homepage:

Comment: *

Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <a> <p> <span> <div> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <img> <img /> <map> <area> <hr> <br> <br /> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <table> <tr> <td> <em> <b> <u> <i> <strong> <font> <del> <ins> <sub> <sup> <quote> <blockquote> <pre> <address> <code> <cite> <embed> <object> <strike> <caption>
Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Use  to create page breaks.

More information about formatting options

Verification Code

This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

What is the third word in the phrase "ofayuna ewofuse deyujir qajutuz kaxora"?: *

Accounting and Regulations

CFO innovation Asia Accounting and Regulation the Asia Pacific resource center for senior finance executives, daily news, analysis, best practice and case studies in Accounting Regulation, IFRS, US GAAP, Tax, investor relations, corporate governance, Corporate Law, Financial Regulators, Internal Audit, Audit, Corporate Law.

Auditing, Investor Relations, Law and Compliance, Tax

Finance and Banking

CFO innovation Asia, Finance and Banking the Asia Pacific resource center for senior finance executives, daily news, analysis, best practice and case studies in Corporate Finance, trade finance, treasury and risk management, capital expenditure, Banking, mergers and acquisitions

Cash and Liquidity Management, Corporate Finance, Insurance, Treasury Management

Management

CFO innovation Asia the Asia Pacific resource center for senior finance executives, daily news, analysis, best practice and case studies in Finance Management, Corporate Governance, Human Resource Management, Compensation and Benefits, Mergers and Acquisitions, Professional Development, Corporate Real Estate, Risk Management, Budgeting and Forecasting, Business Process Management, Business Process Reengineering, Outsourcing.

Budgeting and Planning, Business Expense Management, Human Capital Management, Outsourcing and Shared Services, Risk Management

Metrics

Corporates, Financial Services

Technology

CFO innovation Asia Technology the Asia Pacific resource center for senior finance executives, daily news, analysis, best practice and case studies in Finance Systems, Business Intelligence, EPR, Accounting software, CRM, Cloud Computing, Telecommunications, Business Process Outsourcing, Business Process Management Software.

Business Intelligence, Enterprise Software and Systems, Financial Systems, Security

CFO innovation ASIA