Tokyo slams Beijing’s revamp of electoral system in Hong Kong, with Japanese firms wary of legislation changes
- While there are few direct options for pressure on Beijing, analysts say Japan could encourage companies to relocate their operations from mainland China
- Japanese media has also criticised the new laws, with one editorial saying polls held under Tokyo’s WWII military dictatorship were more democratic than elections Beijing is imposing upon the city
“The decision this time will further undermine the confidence in the ‘one country, two systems’ framework, as provided for in the Hong Kong Basic Law and the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration,” Japan’s foreign ministry said in a Friday statement.
“From the [Japanese] government, I expect similar comments to last year after the security law was passed, talking about the importance of personal liberties and freedoms and how curtailing those freedoms will impact the city’s commercial activities and, as a consequence, harm China’s interests,” said Go Ito, a professor of international relations at Tokyo’s Meiji University. “But it is not possible to impose direct sanctions on China, so Tokyo is limited in what it can do.”
One possible card that Tokyo might play could be encouraging or incentivising companies to shut down manufacturing facilities in mainland China and transfer them to countries in Southeast Asia, or even to repatriate them to Japan.
