Remembering Sir John

Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics

"Yet that doesn't detract from the scale of Cowperthwaite's achievement. Whatever happens to Hong Kong in the future, the experience of this past 50 years will continue to instruct and encourage friends of economic freedom. And it provides a lasting model of good economic policy for others who wish to bring similar prosperity to their people." (Original)

"By some accident of officialdom, the Colonial Office had assigned John Cowperthwaite to serve as the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong. The result: the home country strangled by socialism; the colonial possession converted into a showplace of free markets." (Original)


Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of HKSAR

"We shall always remember Sir John for the pioneering and dominant role he played in the birth of the legend of Hong Kong as the freest market economy in the world." (Original)


P. J. O'Rourke, American bestseller and journalist, Cato Institute's Mencken research fellow

"A master of simplicity" (Original)


Marian L. Tupy Policy Analyst, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute, USA

"He was a principled and modest man, whose wisdom and courage of convictions greatly contributed to the spectacular rise of Hong Kong from poverty to prosperity." (Original)


Alex Singleton, Director General The Globalisation Institute, UK

"Cowperthwaite made Hong Kong the most economically free economy in the world." (Original)