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We have been told for a long time that developed economies need to gear themselves for expecting an increasingly competitive future. Stephen King, chief economist of HSBC, made such a prediction in his 2010 book, Losing Control: The Emerging Threats to Western Prosperity. Citizens from emerging economies like China and India were likely to be the dominant players in the coming decades. These markets will be the most likely engines for growth. The West will be doing well to maintain its current levels of prosperity. That was the sobering message of King's book.

One of the issues at the heart of this competitiveness is what is somewhat charmlessly called "human capital". Labeling human talents like a commodity is unappealing, but it's certainly true that attracting capable, experienced people is enough to sustain a booming international headhunter sector. Good bankers, financiers, teachers and technical specialists can name their price, in a world which is largely without boundaries as the realization that good people are worth having no matter where they are from.

It's this market that China also needs to tap into. In the last few decades, it has sent about a million talented young people abroad to study. A large number - maybe as many as two thirds - have so far not come back. They have contributed their intelligence and diligence to places other than the Chinese mainland. Many are now in Hong Kong.

The ability to attract the global talent pool of good people in specialist sectors is not likely to ease off any time soon. And this is where Hong Kong has to fight alongside other places. For good finance people, Hong Kong has the advantage over Shanghai of much lower tax, and it also has a more cosmopolitan and open environment. Well-qualified people with no real experience of ever having lived in Asia, when faced with the prospect of relocating to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei or Singapore would weigh up many things. Pay would be important of course, but so would the culture and feel of a place, its diversity, the way it embraces outsiders. Put simply, one of the key things top executives moving from their home will look hard at is what sort of lifestyle and level of tolerance there would be in their potential new base.

In this context, of the list above, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei still have one crucial advantage over the rest. They are places that have produced an environment where most people have the characteristics of global citizens - people who have a relatively flexible and lose sense of their local identity. They are able to see themselves comfortably in an international context and are experienced in adapting to foreigners.

Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore have become in the last few decades a society that have enviably high levels of education, an ability for most people to function in English, and dense networks with the rest of the world. This is not merely an elite phenomenon. On the whole, in these societies we have a clearer view of what a "global" Asian citizen looks like. They are people who have strong cultural and family links with their home place but are also able to travel with an open mind, to embrace new ideas, to be confident and to be unafraid of innovation.

In this space, Hong Kong has a great asset, and something that is likely to continue giving it the edge over mainland competitors. The simple fact is that Hong Kong remains a place where diversity is embraced, and where different lifestyles are tolerated. The prospect for someone with no Asia experience living here is not as daunting as it would be if they were relocating to Shanghai, for instance. This is not just because of political or economic issues. The simple fact is that Hong Kong citizens act like they are more at ease with the outside world; they don't hold their cultural identity so tightly to themselves, and while they are as distinctly Chinese as people anywhere else in the planet, they are also able to countenance people with different attitudes, cultural views and ideas.

The link between the global attitude of people in a place and the ability to attract internationally talented people to move there is important. The competition globally for the finite pool of world-class business people, academics, and administrators is only likely to grow sharper. It will be the intangible things like the attitude and cultural environment of a place that will act as an advantage in the future. The likelihood is that for some time to come Hong Kong will continue to be a center in the region where people are willing to move to, live and work because of the global and cosmopolitan spirit of its people. And that, in an era of increased competition, is a precious asset to have.

The author is executive director of China Studies Center and professor of Chinese Politics at University of Sydney; team leader of the Europe China Research and Advice Network (ECRAN) funded by the European Union; and associate fellow at Chatham House, London.

(HK Edition 02/12/2014 page1)