The Price of Closing Borders

 I’ve always had a soft spot for HSBC’s advertising campaigns ever sine they called themselves “The World’s Local Bank.” It was as if someone in the marketing department had enough human empathy to understand that globalising was probably the world’s greatest single business opportunity but at the same time, people would become more attached to their local economies.

Well, I’m glad to say that someone in HSBC has done it again. This time it was from a poster that I saw in Dubai International Airport on my way to London, which talked about raising a champion of “open borders.”

 

 Dubai, like Singapore is a small place that has prospered. Dubai, like Singapore, has prospered without much in the way of resources. In a region where economies are dominated by the extraction of hydrocarbons, Dubai stands out as the one place that has prospered without much by way of hydrocarbons.

How did Dubai do it? Well, the answer is simple. They’ve been open for business from day one and they’ve welcomed entrepreneurs from all over the world to set up shop. Dubai has taken advantage of its geographical location and branded itself as the “hub” between Europe, Africa and Asia (so much so that the girl checking me in at Changi Airport explained “Dubai is like us – they’re a hub – flights there are always going to be full”). Dubai is by no means the main market in the region (Saudi Arabia has 40 odd million and the UAE has 10 million and Dubai is only the second most prominent part of the UAE) but like Singapore in its region, Dubai is the gateway. International businesses set up their regional headquarters in Dubai just as they do in Singapore.

Dubai and Singapore have prospered for the simple reason that they’ve been open. The governments of both would argue that they don’t really have choice. The domestic market is almost negligible and both don’t have much by way of resources (though admittedly, this claim is often exaggerated – Both have natural ports and Dubai has the added advantage of being in a Federation with Abu Dhabi, which has a lot of oil) and so they have no choice but to be open to the world. If you look at both places, you’ll notice that they’ve pioneered their national airlines to be world beaters they want international traffic to come in.

Being open and stable have been key to the survival of small states with not that much except their geography. Singapore has pushed it to the extent that its passport is considered one of the most powerful in the world. This was very clear when I entered the UK and found that the Singapore passport was in the same “special” category as the larger US, Japan and European Union passports. In short, getting into a Western country with a Singapore passport is relatively easy. Nobody worries we’re going to disappear and work on the black market.  

 

 Being open has been the key to prosperity and stability for small places like Singapore and Dubai. However, is it also the case for larger places.

Let’s look at the United Kingdom (UK), where I am now sitting. The UK has notoriously committed one of the greatest acts of nationalistic stupidity and as I write, is going through one of its hardest periods economically. As often mentioned, I grew up in the UK in the recession of the 1990s and nobody talked about the choice of starving or freezing the way they do now. Somehow, everyone was conned into the idea that Britain’s position in the world would be enhanced through Brexit. It’s taken a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Spokesperson to dispel that myth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jZ0KTRUgpU

 

 Brexit and the empowerment of unemployable nationalist is what you call a slap to the normalcy of British history. Think of Brexit as a lesson as to why one should never ignore you own history when someone tells you that it will enhance your manhood to shut your doors to the world.

The British were the first “small” nation to prove that being open was essential to prosperity. Britain is a small island tucked away in a corner of Europe that ruled the quarter of the world. It humbled larger nations like China and conquered India (as said in the movie Gandhi – it was about 100,000 Englishmen ruling 300 million Indians). China was and is many times larger than Britain but closed off to everything because they really thought they were the centre of the world and refused to have open borders. Britain, by contrast, pioneered freedom of trade and movement of goods – hence had resources and ideas than its smaller geographical location would suggests.

If you look at the parts of Britain that work, noticeably the better parts of London, you’ll notice that these are not where the Brexiteers hang out. It’s the parts that are open to the world I couldn’t help but notice that the London Marathon is sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), that most classic of Indian brands.

 

 If you look at the parts of London that dominate the world and generate prosperity for everyone, you’ll notice that its from the parts that are open. You don’t get the unemployables who jerk over foreigners stealing their jobs that they never wanted in those parts of London that make it such a great city.

Chauvinist of all sorts need to remember one thing. Nationalism is like masturbation. It may feel good when you’re indulging in it but the reality is that you actually spend energy to produce nothing at all.