Exclusive | No timetable for Hong Kong anti-sanctions law, finance chief Paul Chan says
- Financial secretary makes strongest assurance yet to business community on national legislation
- Paul Chan also mounts robust defence of his unprecedented report on the damage inflicted on business environment by social unrest of 2019
Hong Kong’s top financial official has said there is no timetable to incorporate China’s anti-sanctions law into the local legislative framework, in the strongest assurance yet to the business community that such a contentious move will not be rushed.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Post, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also mounted a robust defence of his unprecedented report on the damage inflicted on the city’s business environment and investment prospects by the anti-government protests of 2019, for which he held the United States responsible as well.
“As far as I understand, there is no definite timetable for this,” Chan said, describing the law aimed at providing legal ammunition to fight back against sanctions imposed by foreign governments and entities as a tool Beijing “may use or may not use”.
China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, in August postponed a vote to insert the anti-sanctions law into the city’s mini-constitution, with at least one member saying the delay was to make the eventual adoption more effective.
The legislation, passed in mainland China in June, empowers the authorities to seize assets from entities that implement sanctions against the country, and hold businesses liable if they refuse to help Beijing carry out countermeasures.
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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam supports anti-sanctions law implementation in the city
While Hong Kong officials have previously sought to reassure the public that the use of the new powers would be targeted rather than indiscriminate, the business community has raised fears the law would leave foreign firms, particularly banks, between a rock and a hard place.