What HSBC and Cathay Pacific’s bow to Beijing on Hong Kong national security law tells investors about management in political crises

Name: Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam
Uploaded: 2020-06-08T23:00:31.000Z
Duration: 2 min 23 s
Description: Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam

Businesses from HSBC to Swire join tycoons in pledging support for Beijing’s tailor-made security law for Hong Kong

Investors, analysts look to security law’s implementation and potential ESG pitfalls

Reading Time:6 minutes

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Companies that dominate Hong Kong’s skyline fall in line behind Beijing’s proposed national security law. Photo: Bloomberg

Alison Tudor-AckroydandChad Bray

Published: 7:00am, 9 Jun 2020Updated: 9:29am, 15 Jun 2020

Corrected [12:47pm, 9 Jun, 2020]

[12:47pm, 9 Jun, 2020]
This story has been corrected to state Leung Chun-ying is a former chief executive of Hong Kong. An earlier version incorrectly stated he was the city's first chief executive.

Cathay Pacific chairman John Slosar said in August he “wouldn’t dream” of telling the firm’s 27,000 Hong Kong employees what to think about politics – that was one of his last public acts. Under new management, the airline quickly backed the city’s clampdown on protesters.

Amid mounting pressure from Beijing and its surrogates, Hong Kong’s business leaders are once again lining up to pledge support for politically-charged security measures.

Li Ka-shing, one of Asian’s richest men, and Peter Wong Tung-shun, the Asia-Pacific chief executive of the city’s biggest bank, HSBC, were among the prominent businessmen to take the unusual step of publicly backing a national security law that Beijing is drafting for Hong Kong that is aimed at suppressing anti-government protests.

A Cathay spokesperson said: “We believe that safeguarding national security is essential in maintaining the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong.”

02:23

Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam

Some state-owned Chinese banks, including Bank of China, Bank of Communications and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China have taken their show of support a step further and asked staff to sign statements backing the legislation as well.

Investors used to expect business executives to keep their mouths shut on politics and focus instead on making them money. However, they believe an epoch-making shift in the role of a company is under way, to one where managers have to be seen to align with the general norms of society and comment on everything from Britain’s exit from the European Union to the death of George Floyd in the United States.

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