Thailand’s richest man calls for peace and order in Hong Kong, adding his voice to the chorus of condemnation against violence

Thailand's richest man Dhanin Chearavanont has bought three full-page newspaper advertisements in Hong Kong to call for an end to violence and return to order

Dhanin joins Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing, tycoon Gordon Wu and some of the city’s biggest companies in calling for peace

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Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman of Thailand's largest agribusiness group, Charoen Pokphand (CP Group) on August 6, 2004. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:07pm, 27 Aug 2019Updated: 3:38pm, 27 Aug 2019

Dhanin Chearavanont, the Thai industrialist who heads one of Asia’s wealthiest families, has added his voice to a growing chorus of condemnation against ongoing violence in 12 weeks of street protests in Hong Kong, taking out advertisements to call for peace.

The head of Thailand’s Chearavanont family and senior chairman of the Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) called for peace and social order to return to Hong Kong’s streets, in front-page advertisements under his ethnic Chinese name Chia Kok Min in the Oriental Daily News, Sing Tao Daily and Ming Pao.

Dhanin, who turned 80 in April, is no stranger to Hong Kong. His investment holding company CP Pokphand listed in Hong Kong as early as in 1988, and his sprawling conglomerate is a shareholder in scores of publicly listed companies, including a 23.3 per cent as the largest stake owner of Ping An Insurance Group, China’s No. 1 insurer by capitalisation.

The Chinese-language advertisements add Dhanin’s voice to Li Ka-shing, head of Hong Kong’s wealthiest family, and Hopewell Holdings’ founder Gordon Wu Ying-sheung in urging for restraint on both sides of a political divide, as what began on June 9 as a peaceful march against a controversial extradition bill has transformed into almost three months of street violence.

Even though Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has declared the bill “dead,” her reluctance to withdraw it has spawned more rallies, which have deteriorated as protesters clashed with police regularly.

Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman and CEO of Charoen Pokphand Group, with Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group Holding, during Ant Financial Services’ press conference in Hong Kong in November 2016. Photo: SCMP/Xiaomei Chen

Hong Kong’s economy, squeezed by a year-long trade war between the US and China, has taken a beating from the ongoing protests, with retail sales and visitor numbers adversely affected in the normally peaceful city. Economic growth slowed in the second quarter, putting the city at risk of a technical recession in the third if rallies keep up, economists say.

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