By now, we have gotten used to Ho Ching sharing many articles daily on her Facebook page.

What is rare for Ho, however, is her detailed analysis on the numerous posts that she shares every day.

Today is one such exception.

Ho felt moved enough to write a more than 1,100 word essay on why Hong Kong should not be solely obsessed with Singapore as a competitor.

Ho: Real question for Hong Kong is what economic role it serves vis-a-vis China

The CEO of Temasek Holdings shared a South China Morning Post article ("Singapore begins to see some gains from Hong Kong’s months of unrest") this morning (Oct. 26), disagreeing with the "Hong Kong and Singapore are competitors" narrative.

She wondered out loud that "some folks in Hong Kong appear to have an obsession with Singapore as a competitor".

Ho then proceeded to give her take on why the economies of Hong Kong and Singapore "are very different and serve different roles, despite having a common legacy of British rule".

She said that the real question for modern Hong Kong is its role in the Chinese economy.

Ho provided some numbers and observations on China and Hong Kong:

• Hong Kong’s GDP is now about three per cent of China’s GDP.
• China has grown faster. Since joining the WTO, China’s GDP has grown over 10 times. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's GDP has doubled.
• Hong Kong's real competition in China is Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing. This is especially since Shanghai was the key financial centre of China before China opened up.
• Hong Kong has almost no manufacturing jobs in Hong Kong, with manufacturing now less than five per cent of its GDP at around two to three per cent. This is because the industries have moved to China.
• The result is a huge gap from loss of more stable MFRG jobs for a whole range of workers, from semi-skilled workers to mid-level supervisors and managers.
• So Hong Kong became a service centre for China.

Hence, Ho said that the real question is what role should Hong Kong should play vis-a-vis China, and the world.

She believes that the obsession with the movement of some money and people to Singapore while ignoring the movement of people and money elsewhere to USA, Canada, Australia, and U.K., especially for their professional talents, just misses the point.

Ho: Strategic value of Hong Kong to China will diminish if One Country, Two Systems doesn't work

Ho said that the real value of Hong Kong to China is to demonstrate the success of "One Country, Two Systems" principle, "as a way to try to entice Taiwan back into her (China's) fold".

If the principle does not work in Hong Kong, Ho thinks that the strategic value of Hong Kong vis-a-vis the important question of Taiwan for China will greatly diminish.

Here, she asked a few questions about Hong Kong's future.

"Is HK the Dubai of China, where the Chinese go to decompress? Is HK the window of China where the world goes to have a ringside seat to watch and do business with China? Is HK another more sophisticated SEZ to experiment with the evolution towards democracy with Chinese characteristics?"

Singapore as an example for Hong Kong in terms of "political pathways"

Ho said that the history of Singapore may hold lessons for Hong Kong in terms of political pathways — municipal elections for people to look after their own districts, followed by self government in all but defence and foreign affairs.

Meanwhile, she feels that Singapore needs to rethink its role in its own region and in the world, in the light of the changes caused by geopolitics and technology over the next decade and more.

She concluded by asking everyone to "stay calm, think deeply, and act methodically and decisively, for a better, kinder, safer world for our people and country, our families, our future generations".

Top photo by Rachel Ng.