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The Future of Hong Kong

Copyright © 1997, 2020 by David E. Ross

My predictions made in 1997 about the fate of Hong Kong are finally coming true. Not all of them have come true yet, but the rest are likely to be realized soon. The only surprise is that it actually took more than 20 years, not the five years I originally predicted.

29 May 2020

As I heard repeated news stories on 30 June — which was already 1 July in Asia — about the transfer of Hong Kong from British to Chinese control, I began to wonder why anyone would celebrate this event. I expect some of the following to occur within the next five years:

In the early 1980s, I was working for the System Development Corporation (SDC) when it was bought by Burroughs (a friendly takeover). Along with all other SDC employees, I saw a video in which top Burroughs executives asserted that SDC's autonomy had a tangible value and that this autonomy would be preserved. Less than a year later, we saw how false that promise was. China's pledge of a special status for Hong Kong sounds very similar. Whether control resides in a corporation or a government, an anomalous subsidiary will not be tolerated.

30 June 1997


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