Hasn't China proved her self already? The HK case study
By: Ornit Avidar, Managing Director, China-Israel Venture Capital Fund    

China is still in the mode of having to prove herself to investors; it is still too risky they say, IP infringement, tight local networking makes for a tough glass roof and more and more criticism and objections.

The skeptics among us, ask: Has China really "opened up"? Can they be trusted? What does the Chinese Government really want? What is their hidden agenda? Are they not just trying to lure us into believing in them so that they can later exploit our (westerns) success?  

But, the answer is actually quite clear, when presenting the best case study ever – Hong Kong SAR Special Administration Region.
On the first of July 2007, 10 years have passed since the handover of HK to China.

In 1997 when people where getting their foreign passports sorted out and their money transferred to the west, many people assumed that this was the end of HK as they knew it. No more the worlds most Laissez-faire economy, no more the best efficiency, no more: transparency, free press and of course the end to the money making machine of HK. But as the years passed on people started to understand that the Chinese Government has stuck by all its agreements and really has left matters of economy and legal issues to be dealt by the HK government, abiding by the Special Administration Region arrangement. 

And lo and behold 10 years have past and HK is still the most Laissez-faire economy. Little by little the HK people started to be proud of there Chinese heritage and started to understand that it is all for the better. They are now part of the biggest growth engine on Earth, the new money making machine "CHINA". Since the handover, business (after a short slump) went up and the pie of opportunities has grown, today HK not only enjoys the growth in HK, but the growth in Mainland China as well.

So now after China "proved", over a 10 year period, that what they really is just to take their rightful place among the leading nations and to be integrated into modern society, have they earning our trust.

I say YES, we can all start investing now……

(For those readers with the conspiracy theory state of mind and knowing the long term vision in China, you will need to wait another10 years, but for me 10 years, is a good enough retrospect). 

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