Hong Kong can benefit if multinationals push back on further national security law restraints: report

Collective lobbying and public relations by business and financial community can ‘shape political calculus’ locally and in Beijing, says US think tank

Hong Kong’s location at nexus of global finance and Chinese political system have increased risk of operating businesses within the city, it adds

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Police officers stand guard where a cancelled march for women’s rights was scheduled to take place in Hong Kong on Sunday. The event would have been the first major civil rights protest in the city since 2020. Photo: AP

Published: 7:30am, 8 Mar 2023Updated: 7:40am, 8 Mar 2023

Multinationals in Hong Kong should collectively lobby both the city’s authorities and Beijing while pushing back against further restraints under the national security law to mitigate rising risks in a “fundamentally” changed environment, a US think tank recommended.

“The most fundamental change” in Hong Kong over the past three years has been a significant shift from legal and institutional constraints on government actions to political and normative constraints reinforced by the national security law, according to a report launched by the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub and GeoEconomics Centre on Tuesday.

The city’s current legal environment now has few institutional obstacles to the continued erosion of the rule of law and judicial independence, two historical cornerstones of the Chinese special administrative region’s attractiveness to international business, the report stated.

“The obstacles to further changes in Hong Kong’s environment will be political, and collective lobbying and public relations by the business and financial community can shape the political calculus in Hong Kong and Beijing,” it added.

The report, titled “Fractured Foundations: Assessing Risks to Hong Kong’s Business Environment”, came up when Hong Kong leadership stepped up a charm offensive to woo back investors and tourists. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu last month unveiled the “Hello Hong Kong” campaign, and the city last week scrapped a mask mandate, ending its last major restriction of the coronavirus pandemic.