THE storm clouds are gathering over Hong Kong as China and the US rattle their sabres over intellectual copyright piracy.
Sanction and counter-sanction are threatened between two of the biggest economic powers on earth, while in the middle sits Hong Kong, apparently meekly awaiting its fate.
Relatively speaking, Hong Kong has as much to lose as the US and China if there is a trade war.
Punitive action against Chinese exports to the US will harm the territory's booming re-export business with latest figures suggesting up to $4.5 billion worth of Hong Kong re-exports from China will be hit. Economic growth will slow and the new-found, albeit weak, vote of confidence in the equity market will be snuffed out.
If ever there was a time for Hong Kong to shout and shout loudly, it is now. But instead the Government has decided against sending a delegation to Beijing or Washington. The powers-that-be have decided to send a letter outlining, we presume, the fate that awaits the territory.
Apparently, there is no room for lobbying. Apparently, the territory, powerful enough to have its own seat at the APEC table and rated by the World Bank as the sixth wealthiest economy in the world measured by purchasing power parity, does not think it worthwhile to try one last face-to-face attempt to avert a trade war.
