今年2月4日，世界球王梅西所属的迈阿密国际足球俱乐部到香港参加表演赛，门票一早被抢购一空，还有中国内地球迷专程飞到香港看梅西。结果梅西完全没下场。比赛结束时，不满的观众大声喝倒彩，要求退票。这件事在香港引起轩然大波。梅西被质疑故意让香港难堪。

一波未平一波又起，一个多星期后，著名经济学家、摩根士丹利前亚洲区主席罗奇又在报章上撰文称：香港玩完了。罗奇的的证据是：1997年7月1日香港回归当天，香港恒生指数收盘1万6000点。如今，恒指也差不多是这个水平，等于回到原点。

过去几年，香港已经很少有让人乐观的新闻。香港玩完了，这是真的，还是国际舆论再次合力“唱衰”香港？这颗东方之珠要怎么重现昔日光彩？

这期的早报播客《东谈西论》，听主持人韩咏红和香港城市大学法学院教授、中国法与比较法研究中心主任王江雨从罗奇的撰文和梅西事件谈香港到底怎么了？

延伸阅读：

• 梅西：香港未登场与政治因素无关
• 李玉林：“梅西事件”照出了什么？

Lionel Messi’ failure to play in the much-hyped friendly match sparked outrage in Hong Kong. The controversy intensified when the Argentinian football star took part in a match in Tokyo a few days later. The organiser of the ill-fated match in Hong Kong, said it would offer refunds of 50% in face of harsh criticisms from the Hong Kong government and football fans. Chinese state media and Hong Kong legislators have suggested that the debacle was a politically motivated snub.

About a week later, Stephen Roach, a renowned economist and former chair of Morgan Stanley Asia wrote in a Financial Times commentary: “It pains me to admit it, but Hong Kong is now over.” He mentioned that the Hang Seng Index has been basically flat since the handover to China in 1997, and pointed out that the former British colony had the world’s worst-performing major stock market in the last 25 years.

The Hang Seng index last month dropped below the 15,000-point mark, a return to levels not seen since 1997.     . 

Confronted by dwindling optimism and international scepticism, what can Hong Kong do to regain its former glory?

In this episode of Global Heartbeat podcast, host Han Yong Hong invites Professor Wang Jiang Yu from the City University of Hong Kong School of Law to weigh in on these issues and explore the implications for Hong Kong's future.

Hosted by Lianhe Zaobao’s Associate Editor, Han Yong Hong, Global Heartbeat is a Mandarin weekly news and current affairs podcast that is updated every Tuesday, 7.00 PM SGT. It is available on zaobao.sg, Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms.

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