Hong Kong and Singapore
Hong Kong's case is unique among Asian Tigers because of its rather strict following of neoliberal economic thought. This has been consistent even when Great Britain was cajoling Keynesian ideas.
According to Leo Goodstadt, this is the policy preference of Hong Kong's Chinese business elite and has been supported by the governors of Hong Kong since 1947, when the governor was Sir Alexander Grantham. Hong Kong became a separate economic entity from China in 1842 after the Opium War, but its return to China in 1997 did not make this economy completely merge with the Chinese economy, although relations between the two have been closer since 1997. Hong Kong never developed a significant manufacturing sector like the other three Asian Tigers. Its manufacturing sector remained less sophisticated, such as cheap garments and other industries, while the three other Tigers made a significant progress in high-technology and heavy industries.Nevertheless, Hong Kong shares similar traits with the other Asian Tigers such as investing heavily in human capital and in exporting products. Hong Kong's main strength was in its financial industry and it became a financial hub of Asia. Hong Kong has also retained one of the most competitive education systems in the world. The University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology are in the top twenty science and engineering universities in the world. As discussed above, Hong Kong did not have a significant industrial policy, which makes it rather different from the other Tigers.
Singapore is located between Hong Kong and Taiwan/South Korea in terms of the level of government intervention. It is one of the freest economies in the world, yet, it was not satisfied with an entirely laissez-faire economy like Hong Kong. The government put significant efforts into industrialising the economy in some limited areas. The major architect of Singapore's economic development was Lee Kuan Yew. Singapore features some high-tech industries, particularly in semiconductors and media storage. The National University of Singapore is listed as the highest in Asia and is the sixteenth in the world in the engineering and technology field.