HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE : A COMPARISON OF THE TWO ASIAN CITY-STATES

Abstract

For the past three decades, Hong Kong and Singapore are among the most dynamic economies in the world. Together with the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, these economies are commonly known as the four "East Asian Tigers" and have led the region into rapid economic growth alongside with Japan. Hong Kong and Singapore have exhibited striking similarities both in terms of their history as former British colonies as well as their uniqueness in being the only city-states in Asia. In particular, the two economies are able to achieve impressive economic success despite their comparatively smaller size and resource constraints. Much attention had been focused on Hong Kong prior to her return to China on 1 July 1997. The transfer of administration from Britain to China had led to much uncertainty over Hong Kong's economic and political future during the transition years from 1982 to 1997. It was commonly perceived that Singapore, which shares many similarities with Hong Kong, would stand to gain from the uncertainties in the former British colony.

This academic exercise attempts to compare the Hong Kong and Singapore economies in order to verify the validity of the above-mentioned perception. As most of the previous studies which compared the two city-states were carried out in the late 1980s, there has been a lack of up-dated information in this field of knowledge. This study aims to bridge the gap between the early 1990s and the handover of Hong Kong in 1997.

Unfortunately, time constraints faced in the preparation of this exercise have affected the collection of post-handover data, which are not, as yet fully available. Nevertheless, the most recent observations and movement trends which may be obtained are presented in the following analysis in the hope that they will serve as useful information for subsequent research regarding the dynamically interactive role of Hong Kong and Singapore in the post-handover years.