Tethered to China

Follow Us Get the newsletter It used to be considered a negative to say that Hong Kong might become "just another Chinese city." Now the territory's leader is embracing the concept. "The biggest opportunity lies with central government support to tap into the mainland market," Chief Executive Carrie Lam said today in her annual policy speech, which was delayed so she could consult with leaders in Beijing. "This is the growth engine." Lam's lengthy address to a legislature now void of opposition lawmakers reinforced the extent to which Hong Kong's future is tethered to China. She defended Beijing's moves to clamp down on dissent in the former British colony, and criticized unidentified "foreign governments" for interference that was "severely jeopardizing our nation's security." Lam spent a sizable part of her speech promoting the Greater Bay Area concept that seeks to create a Silicon Valley-style economic zone with the nearby mainland cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Still, it's unclear how many young Hong Kongers see that as an opportunity: They may prefer to try their luck in the U.K. or Australia. For Lam and her bosses in Beijing, that's probably just as well. Hong Kong has shown in recent months it remains the prime spot for Chinese companies to raise cash, no matter how much western businesses highlight concerns about the legal system. As Lam made clear in her speech, the only voice that really matters is that of President Xi Jinping. — Daniel Ten Kate Lam speaking today in Hong Kong. Photographer: Roy Liu/Bloomberg Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. Global Headlines Diplomatic shift | When Linda Thomas-Greenfield was held at gunpoint on a diplomatic assignment in Rwanda in 1994, she sought to look calm as she explained to a "glazed-eyed young man" that she wasn't the woman he was told to kill. 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