Hong Kong’s incoming chief executive says his government will play a bigger role in the economy, in a departure from the territory’s laisser faire tradition as he seeks to address rising public discord and worsening inequality.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Leung Chun-ying said Hong Kong would move away from its traditional “small government, big market” model towards a more “pro-active” administration. “We will have to look at social implications and social costs and not just private benefits and private costs,” said Mr Leung, who was chosen last month by a 1,200-member “election committee” in a hard-fought contest with Henry Tang.
Despite years of strong economic growth, ordinary residents increasingly feel that the former British colony’s freewheeling economic system disproportionately benefits wealthy tycoons. Twenty per cent of Hong Kong’s 7m people live below the poverty line.