Hong Kong's Identity Crisis

Should Hong Kong aspire to be the Monte Carlo of China? The question may seem absurd. For a start, Hong Kong is a commercial city of nearly 7 million people; Monte Carlo a town of just 16,000. Yet Monte Carlo is a metaphor for things that Hong Kong should stand forquality, wealth, low taxes and a sort of independence. A more obvious comparison might be London, which, despite Britain's decline, has maintained its global status thanks to a multinational population and the determination of its financial markets to see the world as their hinterland.

Hong Kong must adjust...