Big business and organisers joust over cost of Occupy Central to Hong Kong
Hong Kong could lose billions and reputation, but others say lack of universal suffrage will cost more
Big business and the Occupy Central movement clashed yesterday over the price the city would pay if the pro-democracy movement brought the heart of Hong Kong to a halt.
Four business groups warned that Occupy Central could cost the city billions. But Dr Benny Tai Yiu-ting, a founder of Occupy Central, countered that the economic cost of failing to achieve universal suffrage in 2017 could be higher.
The movement hopes to have at least 10,000 protesters ready to block roads into Central in July next year if the government fails to deliver proposals for "genuine" universal suffrage.
Yesterday, the Beijing-loyalist Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and the Chinese Manufacturers' Association, which together represent more than 9,000 businesses, each took out half-page advertisements in three Chinese-language business newspapers - the Hong Kong Economic Times, Hong Kong Economic Journal and Sing Tao Daily.
The association's statement was headed: "Do not let the Occupy Central act destroy Hong Kong's economic prosperity." It quoted "an academic analysis [that] the damage that Occupy Central would do to our economy is beyond estimation. The financial sector estimates that if the stock market is hamstrung … the loss in transactions could amount to tens of billion dollars in one hour".
The financial sector estimates that if the stock market is hamstrung … the loss in transactions could amount to tens of billion dollars in one hour
The city's long-term competitiveness and economic stability could be undermined, it added.