Hong Kong could lose foreign investment if city’s leader gives herself emergency powers to battle protesters, pro-business lawmaker warns
- Liberal Party leader Felix Chung suggests invoking law not used since 1967 could see expats and their money leave city
- Under sweeping powers Chief Executive Carrie Lam could censor the media and decided how long someone is sent to jail for
Invoking sweeping emergency powers to battle the escalating violence of anti-government protests in Hong Kong could see foreign investment pulled out of the city, a pro-business lawmaker has warned.
But Chung said if the government did resort to invoking the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, the impact on Hong Kong could be more serious than having clashes between police and protesters every week.
Chung said the laws had not been used for more than 50 years and it would be hard to estimate how the foreign community would respond.
“When you introduce laws we are not familiar with, there may be an evacuation of foreign nationals and the withdrawal of investment,” Chung said.
The ordinance, last used during the 1967 riots, would give the chief executive the power to “make any regulations whatsoever which he [or she] may consider desirable in the public interest”, if they considered it an occasion of “emergency or public danger”.
Such regulations, which do not need lawmakers’ approval, grant a wide range of powers, including on arrests, detentions and deportations, the control of ports and all transport, the appropriation of property, authorising the entry and search of premises, and the censorship and suppression of publications and communications.
It also allows the chief executive to decide on the penalties for the offences drawn under the emergency regulations, with a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Lam’s hint on Tuesday fuelled concerns she was planning to invoke the sweeping powers imminently, a move two members of her cabinet cautioned against, while legal experts warned it could deal a blow to the city’s rule of law.
Chung said he hoped the government was just trying to see how people reacted to the suggestion, and added that officials should cope with the problem in a way that would have public support.
“When you only use suppressive methods to handle something, it doesn’t solve the problem at all,” he said.
On the same programme, the Democratic Party’s James To Kun-sun said it would not be proportional to use the ordinance to tackle the present political crisis.
“Politicians should consider political solutions,” he said.
We cannot leave them [the younger generation] in desperation or despair. It is the responsibility of us all to rebuild trust
Meanwhile, Michael Kadoorie, an influential businessman in Hong Kong and the chairman of local electricity supplier CLP Holdings, wrote an open letter to Hongkongers in a full-page newspaper advertisement.
“It is disheartening to see what has overtaken the city recently with the threat of a challenging situation escalating still further,” he wrote. “I do not support violence nor do I believe that this should be the way to resolve conflicts.”
But, he also expressed concern for the city’s younger generation, many of whom have been involved in the protests.
“I have spoken many times of how our young people are Hong Kong’s future,” he said.
“We cannot leave them in desperation or despair. It is the responsibility of us all to rebuild trust in the community and create hope for the younger generation.”
