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Hong Kong is irreplaceable for China. That’s why the PLA hasn’t rolled in yet
- Hong Kong is still China’s critical gateway to multinational capital, and mainland banks, now worth US$1.2 trillion, hold overseas assets concentrated in the city. China simply can’t afford to destroy Hong Kong’s commercial freedoms
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
The events of recent weeks have thrown up a constant canard. Hong Kong is irrelevant. Its economy is 3 per cent of China’s. It is just a matter of time before Beijing, Shanghai and especially Shenzhen assume Hong Kong’s mantle.
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Shenzhen is more liberal than the rest of China, it boasts an educated population of critical mass with new ideas and lots of capital to apply to leading-edge technology. Beijing and Shanghai are much bigger, with a huge hinterland, and have (if not hold) the ear of the central government.
People in Hong Kong are regarded as pampered snowflakes who have far too many liberties than is good for them. We are doomed.
Poppycock. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If all that was true, the army would be here already – but we play an irreplaceable role in China’s foreign direct investment as a critical gateway to the world. If we didn’t exist, China would have to invent us.
Hong Kong has six freedoms other cities in China don’t have. Four of these, like in the European Union, are freedom of movement of goods, people, services and capital. The others are the rule of law (as interpreted by a judiciary independent of the government) and freedom of speech. Destroy these freedoms and you would indeed destroy Hong Kong’s special role.
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