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‘Mutual maxxing’: Singapore, Hong Kong must back each other amid disruption
In a harsher world, the two Asian hubs have more to gain as partners in trade, talent and ideas than as rivals keeping score.
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Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong visiting the Northern Metropolis in Hong Kong on March 27.
PHOTO: MINISTRY OF DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT AND INFORMATION
The narrative that Hong Kong and Singapore are locked in a zero-sum rivalry can be lamented, and it may ebb and flow, but it will never fully go away.
The media often gets the blame for fanning the hype. That is fair criticism at times, but what is printed on news pages is frequently just an amplification of the zeitgeist. Take it from this columnist: In a previous incarnation as a correspondent for the South China Morning Post, this writer was merely indulging the two cities’ scorekeeping tendencies with pieces such as a 2017 article headlined, “Rolling stock to laughing stock: Why is Singapore’s metro struggling, when Hong Kong’s is a hit?”
