City Beat | Is the US-China conflict over more than just trade? If so, Hong Kong needs to prepare
Amid the controversy over a journalist’s visa lurks a concern over how investors see the city’s business environment when bilateral relations are seemingly soured
Is the United States waging only a trade war against China, or more than that? How should Hong Kong prepare for collateral damage?
When US President Donald Trump in July started what Beijing described as “the biggest trade war in economic history”, my colleagues and I were reminded by some American friends, with the best intentions, that a more accurate description of the confrontation would be “trade friction”.
That could have been wishful thinking for many, including our friends. As journalists, we received completely different views from others such as certain local business heavyweights, who saw it as a war, and not just simply over trade.
As one tycoon who grew up and was educated in the US put it on a private occasion, any problem that could be resolved by money was not a real problem. If this was all about tariffs, he suggested, China would be willing to make concessions in the end. But it was not the case this time, as it was all about technology, he concluded.
Now the latest developments show that, technology aside, there are other deep-rooted issues at stake.