TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Former Morgan Stanley Asia Chair Stephen Roach provided insights into rising concerns about the increasing hostility towards China in U.S. legislation and drawing parallels between Hong Kong and Taiwan during an exclusive interview with TVBS commentator Wenchi Yu on Thursday (March 14).
Touching on the recent force sale of TikTok legislation passed by the House, Roach explained the reason for using the word 'Sinophobia' in his tweet to describe the U.S. latest move, saying, "Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, they're all dead set against China."
"I use the word sinophobic because it's part of a long-standing, fear-driven perception that anything that China does that has an impact on the United States should be viewed as a national security threat," he added.
Describing China as "being constrained by imagination deficit," Roach stressed that the "Chinese activity is being focused on low productivity, state-owned enterprises, and high productivity growth sectorsin the private economy, especially in the internet platform tech companies have been constrained by regulatory intrusion."
His February article published in the Financial Times titled "It pains me to say Hong Kong is over" sparked reactions in Hong Kong, where he outlined the economic and political challenges facing the city.
Roach told the TVBS commentator Wenchi Yu that “the very tight economic linkage with China and Hong Kong is going to go nowhere,” and underscored the likelihood for Hong Kong to be “be caught in the crossfire between the US and China conflict, which forces Hong Kong's trading partners to pick sides between the US and China.”
As Taiwan's President-elect Lai Ching-te will take office in May, Roach advised the island's new leadership to “maintain the status quo,” and avoid becoming a catalyst for regional conflict.
“We've got wars in Europe and the Middle East. The last thing we need is an outbreak of, of conflict accidental or not in Asia," he commented.