US investors weigh Beijing’s power play in Hong Kong: ‘If they’re not careful, they will kill the financial golden goose’
- ‘It is reasonable to be deeply concerned about Hong Kong’s future,’ US analyst says
- Predictions that corporations could leave the city for Singapore, Korea, Taiwan or Vietnam
The near-certain passage of a new Hong Kong security law at the National People’s Congress is a worrisome development that will erode the city’s global reputation and attraction as a corporate base, said business groups, security and legal experts in Washington.
“If they’re not careful, they will kill the financial golden goose,” James Lewis, head of the technology programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said of Chinese government leaders. “And I think they will miscalculate on this. There’s an unwillingness to recognise that politics and economics are linked in this way and that people may trust the Hong Kong market more than they trust their markets.
“Take that away, and the business flows to Singapore,” Lewis added. “It’s a shame.”
Companies that invest heavily through Hong Kong, “will reduce and reroute spending”, added Derek Scissors, a China expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, because “their business and employees are put at risk by future mainland repression in the name of national security”.
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Wave of arrests of Hong Kong pro-democracy figures draws global criticism
Others agreed that Beijing’s proposed crackdown could lead to some businesses to move.