Several days after George Soros wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal saying his interest in defeating China "goes beyond US national interests," some Chinese media outlets reported the billionaire financier attempted to short sell Hong Kong stocks recently when the market was hit hard by the city's ongoing riots.

Soros' reported short-selling operation has not been confirmed. However, we hope he won't be so foolish as to repeat the mistakes he made two decades ago.

If Soros didn't learn anything from his defeat amid the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and tries the same thing again, he will soon find that he is not up against the collective investors of Hong Kong but rather the world's second-largest economy. The Chinese central government will help local authorities in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to fight malicious short selling if it becomes a major cause of stock market turmoil. 

The Chinese central government is highly able to mobilize resources and coordinate action to fight external attacks. A prosperous economy of the Chinese mainland is a powerful backing for the Hong Kong stock market. Soros can't take on the world's second-largest economy.

Remember the Asian financial crisis? The HKSAR survived as a global financial hub because of the support of the central government when speculators, particularly Soros, sold the markets short. 

History may repeat itself if Soros attacks Hong Kong's markets again. We hope Hong Kong's internal forces are able to restore order and safeguard market stability. However, if the city is exposed to economic turmoil, the central government has the ability to deal with malicious speculators, and they'll lose all they've got.

Today, the Chinese economy is stronger than it was two decades ago. The central government is in a better position and has greater strength to fight against malicious short selling. We advise speculators, including Soros, not to engage in direct financial conflict with the world's second-largest economy. They will fail miserably.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn
Newspaper headline: Speculators will fail spectacularly in HK attacks