In what was supposed to be a New Year message on his official blog, Financial Secretary JohnTsang Chun-wah warned against "blind" pursuit of new industries as called for by more andmore economists, to address the social ills arising from an imbalanced economic growth that ismainly driven by the financial and property sectors. Rejecting wide-spread criticisms that the government lacks long-term vision, Tsang wrote: "Wemust understand that a new industry takes a long time to nurture and develop, and its successis not guaranteed." He may sound clever in citing a dialogue in the latest James Bond movie: "Sometimes the old ways are best."

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In what was supposed to be a New Year message on his official blog, Financial
Secretary JohnTsang Chun-wah warned against "blind" pursuit of new industries
as called for by more andmore economists, to address the social ills arising from
an imbalanced economic growth that ismainly driven by the financial and
property sectors.
Rejecting wide-spread criticisms that the government lacks long-term vision,
Tsang wrote: "Wemust understand that a new industry takes a long time to
nurture and develop, and its successis not guaranteed." He may sound clever in
citing a dialogue in the latest James Bond movie: "Sometimes the old ways are
best."

3. But this is not the time. The "old ways" that have been driving economic growth
through assetinflation are destroying the middle class, resulting in a widening
wealth gap that has becomethe main source of public discontent.
Some commentators have scoffed at the frequent public demonstrations against
theestablishment and fierce opposition to almost any government policy
proposal as nothing morethan an indication that Hong Kong people love to
complain. Their show of ignorance in thismatter apparently is shared by many
policy makers.
The many young rebels against Tsang's "old ways" are not without a cause. They
havegenuine reasons to feel betrayed by market forces that are shaped by what
Tsang called the"conventional economic pillars," finance, logistics and trade,
tourism, and professional services.He left property out of the list. But everyone in
Hong Kong knows its overbearing influence onalmost every other sector of the
economy.
"The four conventional pillars have become our major economic backbone
because they havethe edge," Tsang wrote in his blog. "While developing new
sectors, we should make more effortto expand the edge of the pillar industries."

4. But for what? That is the question many frustrated Hong Kong people are asking.
To be sure,the "pillars" have sustained Hong Kong's economic growth in the past
several years despite aglobal downturn. But such growth is not seen to have
brought improvement to the livelihood ofa large segment of the population, or
created many opportunities that can facilitate socialmobility for those at the
lower end of the social scale.
For that reason, more and more economists are calling on the government to take
the initiativein nurturing higher-value added manufacturing industries that can
generate new opportunitiesfor entrepreneurs and create secured and well-paying
jobs for skilled workers. Of course, ittakes time to establish a new industry and
the risk of failure is real enough. But suchconsiderations should not be taken as
excuses of doing nothing.

5. If they were, none of those "pillar" industries would have existed. Rather than
being"conventional", the groundwork for the development of the financial
industry, as it is today, waslaid in the late 1970s by the government. Tourism
didn't become a "pillar" until the governmenttook the initiative in 2003 to make
arrangements that facilitated the massive inflow of millions ofmainland tourists
every year. Nobody is saying that the government should abandon the
pillarindustries. What Hong Kong people want is for the government to at least
produce a credibleplan for the development of new manufacturing industries that
can help balance economicgrowth.