Stocks in the Hong Kong and Chinese mainland markets are surging — that might be an understatement. As reported by Reuters, “Chinese stocks swept to their biggest single-day gains in 16 years on Monday, with domestic A shares registering their highest ever turnover, as investors scrambled to join a searing rally sparked by Beijing’s latest raft of stimulus measures.” While the Hang Seng Index is now up around 24 percent in the year to date, the media believe these markets are now in a “bull market”, the term bull referring to “swiping upward” as opposed to a “bear”, which swipes down.

The annual performance of Hong Kong’s stock markets, and the resurgence of those on the mainland, come amid long-standing pessimism pushed by commentators and the Western mainstream media that seek to depict economic difficulties and “decline” in the special administrative region and China as a whole. While somewhat politically motivated, it is not least because such markets have also struggled amid the upheavals of the past few years. The Chinese government has been highly conservative in its monetary policy and sought to de-leverage the real estate sector as the source of its growth while placing emphasis on the development of high-end technology.

For Hong Kong, this boom indicates yet another milestone at the end of a “turbulent” period for the city’s economy and a return to growth, which has been the story of 2024. First, context is important. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has suffered a number of internal and external shocks to its economic and investment climate, which made the situation challenging. These have included: the Hong Kong “black-clad riots” (2019-20), the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-23), and, as noted above, actions on the mainland including the real estate de-leveraging and regulatory actions against mainland firms. Finally, geopolitical challenges such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict have also dampened the global investment climate.

However, on a local and national level, these challenges have now passed, and for the first time since 2019, a climate of “normality” has returned to Hong Kong, providing stability that has allowed growth to return. As a result, the year of 2024 has been positive for the Hang Seng Index, while GDP has expanded 3.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter. These developments also remind us that those who repeatedly proclaim “the death of Hong Kong” in the Western mainstream media are engaging in wishful thinking, and are often motivated by ideology and politics. They have not viewed the city’s economic challenges in proper context and are eager to paint a narrative of the city “failing” simply in response to national-security-related legislation, but all data from this year contravene these conclusions.

For Hong Kong, 2024 has been a solid year in which the fundamentals have reestablished themselves, and now that is backed up by good news from the mainland. For the past few years, the city has had some rough-and-tumble moments and has been playing catch-up. Finally, it seems it has got fully back on track

Also of important consideration is the fact that the Chinese mainland’s economy is undergoing “deleveraging” and “transition”. The Western media at large have been extremely negative concerning the prospects of the country as a whole, but fail to understand or elaborate that it has been deliberate policy of China’s leadership to steer away from the real estate sector as the largest source of the country’s growth. This has been a painful but necessary adjustment for the country to avoid being engulfed in debt, which is not sustainable as a source of growth, and will result in the ceiling of the “middle income trap”. Instead, it has been the strategy of China for some time to place high-tech economic development and exports as the impetus for national growth, which is a necessary next step on the path to becoming a developed country.

In other words, China perceives its development as a marathon, not a sprint, and the Western mainstream media fail to understand that the end of 10-percent-a-year growth targets came not because the country is “slowing down” but because of a deliberate preference for sustainability. Hence, until now, China’s economic policies have been fiscally conservative, which has lagged on markets. Western publications again championed this as an argument for China’s “decline”. However, the response of markets to the announcement of a long-awaited stimulus package shows that this pessimism, for both the mainland and Hong Kong, was significantly overblown, and the country’s prospects have certainly not lost their shine.

In conclusion, things are finally looking up. For Hong Kong, 2024 has been a solid year in which the fundamentals have reestablished themselves, and now that is backed up by good news from the mainland. For the past few years, the city has had some rough-and-tumble moments and has been playing catch-up. Finally, it seems it has got fully back on track.

The author is a British political and international-relations analyst.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.