Hong Kong has been, and still is, under siege from many sides. But with the National Security Law for Hong Kong in place, and, having gone through so much in the past decade, Hong Kong has learned much and is now ready to bounce back.
Yet Hong Kong is still facing a lot of challenges, not the least of which is because the West is unwilling to accept China’s peaceful rise and continues to make every effort to suppress China’s advance. Hong Kong, as China’s most international city, bears the brunt of this antagonism, as is evident from the list laid out by the Foreign Ministry about the interference of America in Hong Kong affairs during and after the Extradition Amendment Bill incidents in 2019.
The United States’ Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, which had given Hong Kong status as a nonsovereign entity distinct from China for the purposes of US domestic law, “expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should play an active role in maintaining Hong Kong’s confidence and prosperity, its role as an international financial center, and the mutually beneficial ties between the United States and Hong Kong”. But this was all changed in 2020. In July that year, an executive order eliminated the US’ special treatment for Hong Kong, and the Trump administration enacted the Hong Kong Autonomy Act on the baseless charge that Hong Kong and Beijing had violated the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. The subsequent sanctions on officials and various companies, many of which are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as well as a travel warning describing how Hong Kong could allegedly subject visitors to arbitrary enforcement of local laws, have done a lot of damage to Hong Kong’s global financial-center status. In the face of these challenges, Hong Kong people need to stick together and demonstrate our resilience.
Resilience is called “fortitude” in my “happiness formula” that comprises love, insight, fortitude, and engagement (LIFE), the voluntary buildup of mental capital that is essential for a rewarding and happy life. In a project commissioned by the Hong Kong Productivity Council on Happiness at Work in 2011, I extended the concept to corporate love, corporate insight, corporate fortitude, and corporate engagement. Jennifer Moss in a Harvard Business Review article last year, as well as a Gallup Poll report issued this year, confirmed my findings that a strong corporate culture enhances productivity and performance. Gallup estimated that a lack of employee engagement costs the world $8.9 trillion in lost productivity, amounting to 9 percent of global GDP. Employee engagement is highly dependent on corporate culture that is related to corporate love, corporate insight, and corporate fortitude. It is logical to extend corporate fortitude further to city fortitude.
As we celebrate the 27th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, I am happy to share my confidence that Hong Kong will certainly rebuild its resilience. Huawei set a great example for us. Huawei was besieged on many fronts, and many people were wondering if it could survive. It had lost much of its market, as most countries of the West, led by the US, agreed to clear their IT infrastructure of all supplies from Huawei, particularly 5G equipment. Huawei smartphones used to use the Android operating system, and users in the international market need Google Play. New Huawei smartphones were denied access to Google Play. Huawei was also denied both advanced semiconductor supplies and advanced chipmaking equipment. Even the chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested. The company in its darkest hours announced that Huawei was in survival mode.
But Huawei bounced back! A recent CNN business story pronounced: “Huawei isn’t just back from the dead. It’s a force to be reckoned with”. The story in particular noted: “The Chinese giant, which has been a flashpoint in the escalating rivalry between Washington and Beijing, says more than 900 million smartphones now use its in-house operating system, Harmony OS”.
Huawei’s resilience is solidly grounded in corporate love and corporate insight. Corporate love is caring for the well-being of its workers, its customers, and a strong sense of corporate social responsibility. Corporate insight is based on seeing the big picture, which allows strategic thinking and preparedness for the worst. It is the basis for a corporate culture that inspires employee participation. The title of a Harvard Business Review article in 2015 was, Huawei’s Culture Is the Key to Its Success. The authors were particularly impressed by Huawei’s long-term thinking, which is quite different from that of many multinational companies that often focus their attention on profits in the short term.
The resilience of a company, as well as of a city, must start with a strong motivation to serve (love or care for the needs of customers or citizens), must take the long view, have good sense about costs versus benefits and sustainability, and have the ability to see beyond the immediate problems. Resilience for a company and that of a city needs a strong team spirit, which is enabled by a shared vision. When the leadership is strong and seen to be wise, a company has engaged workers, and a city’s residents will contribute what they can to support the work of the government. Like Huawai, Hong Kong is ready to take on any challenge without fail.
The author is director of the Pan Sutong Shanghai-Hong Kong Economic Policy Research Institute, Lingnan University.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
