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Another area where the British presence in Hong Kong has been under-rated, is investment. There has always been a lot of confusion' over the only figures that are freely available: investment in manufacturing. In that area, we do have less than some other countries but of course companies decide on their own commercial judgement, the sectors in which they want to invest. The British investment is spread throughout the economy. It is difficult to come up with an accurate figure for the total because nobody keeps a comprehensive tally and also because some companies that are clearly British in origin or control often prefer to emphasise their Hongkongness. Nevertheless, the figures we do have, show that direct British investment is not much different from total Japanese investment.
I am not saying any of this in a spirit of challenge or competition. Hong Kong is a place of international business and has been since the early days of British administration. Several countries do more trade here than we do.
As a matter of fact I think its a great credit to Britain that this should be so and that Hong Kong has been able to develop its trade in such a free way. But the process has been such that the British contribution and investment does not always show up as "foreign". Some of it tends to be regarded as home-grown. This doesn't have any effect at all on the amount of business done, but the fact needs to be taken into account when people try to identify the source of investment and involvement in Hong Kong. The UK has a very large stake here.
I have mentioned some ways in which the British presence is increasing. There are others: the new stores that have opened in the last two years; the trade missions (a new trade group from Britain arrives here almost every Sunday morning throughout the year except for June and July). There are more British groups at Hong Kong exhibitions (and when we take part in an exhibition we usually manage to have the largest national pavilion). There is also the increasing number of consultants working here and British expertise is much demand in the supervision of the largest infrastructure projects.
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The crucial point is that British business interest in Hong Kong is increasing and not, as some would have it, decreasing. I am not going to launch into a comparison of the involvement of various countries but I think the British presence should be recognised for what it is: a fundamental element in the economy; large and increasing.
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