Hong Kong smears China tires as shiny as global hub fades, #Hong #Kong #burned #China #bands #shine #global #hub #blur OLASMEDIA TV NEWSThis is what we have for you today:
HONG KONG (AP) – Every few generations, Hong Kong transforms itself, evolving from a swampy fishing village to a 19th-century colonial port, to a capitalist outpost and factory after China’s 1949 revolution, to a 21st-century financial center.
As the former British colony celebrates the 25th anniversary of its return to China, faltering from pandemic curbs that have devastated affairs and a suppression of its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again. They say the city needs to become a leader in technology that relies more on its ties to nearby Chinese manufacturing cities than on global trade.
Elected CEO John Lee’s government is under pressure to generate new sources of economic growth, looking beyond COVID outbreaks and antivirus controls that have devastated tourism and business and uncertainty over the legal climate following a repression of the city’s pro democracy movement.
During his election campaign in April, Lee promised to “start a new chapter” for the city better known as one of Asia’s busiest ports and largest stock markets and “strengthen its competitiveness” in technology and innovation as well as trade and finance. .
Lee gave no details, but pointed to the Greater Bay Area, a Chinese government initiative to connect Hong Kong with neighboring mainland cities, including the technology and financial hub of Shenzhen and the manufacturing power stations of Dongguan and Foshan.
“There are huge opportunities in the Greater Bay Area that have not yet materialized,” said David Graham, executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. “This is a great opportunity for Hong Kong, and it will be very difficult to repeat it in other cities like Singapore or Dubai.”
In addition to the urgency for Lee to execute a long-term strategy, executives frustrated with Hong Kong’s travel control are leaving the city, business groups say. Some companies move for good to Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai or other business centers.
“Hong Kong’s power as a global compound has been significantly reduced,” said Joseph Armas, chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Drivers left for cities where “travel is possible”.
Armas has called on Lee for a “concrete roadmap” to revive Hong Kong, which along with mainland China and Taiwan remains one of the few places that still requires incoming travelers to serve mandatory quarantines.
For Michael Chan, who runs a fashion goods manufacturing company, the restrictions that used to be one week of travel to factories in Bangladesh or China have been extended to a month or two, as it makes no sense to spend weeks in quarantine. for a short job. travel.
Chan has considered temporarily moving to Singapore, whose controls are much less stringent.
“When I meet government officials, I often have to meet them face to face and talk about things,” says Chan, a veteran of multiple quarantines. “It’s not like in the US where I can only use Zoom for a video call.”
Hong Kong has lost nearly 90,000 of its 7.5 million population by 2021, according to government figures. More than 100,000 people left in February and March this year, during the city’s worst COVID wave.
The anxiety over Hong Kong’s travel controls “provides an opportunity for others to dive into our talent pool,” said Sally Wong, chief executive of the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association.
Activists and foreign governments complain that the ruling Communist Party is breaking down the 50 years of autonomy that Beijing promised after 1997. The freedoms granted to Hong Kong and its room for maneuver have helped to maintain its status as a hub for Asian headquarters of global companies, even as rental and other costs have risen to record levels and levels of inequality have increased.
Hong Kong still has a skilled workforce, an efficient port and a Western-style legal system that is considered impartial and reliable.
But its status as a global hub for trade and business is waning.
One in 20 companies surveyed by the US Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong plans to relocate their world or regional headquarters from Hong Kong, the chamber reported in January. It said half were unsure about whether to go.
Some businesses are looking to see how law enforcement and the free flow of information and people who are crucial to trade and finance can change. Two out of five companies surveyed said they were worried they would lose free internet access, essential for a trading center that relies on the flow of information.
“There is a perception that foreign businesses are less welcome,” the report said. “More than half of our respondents feel the government is ‘unconcerned’ or ‘dismissive’ about business issues.”
Until now, Hong Kong has been largely free of censorship on the continent, where internet barriers known as the “Great Firewall” are used by the ruling party to stop China’s public from viewing foreign websites run by news outlets, governments and human rights activists. managed. . But the area’s leading pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, was shut down during the crackdown and its publisher, Jimmy Lai, was sentenced to prison.
Kurt Tong, a former U.S. consul general in Hong Kong who is a managing partner of The Asia Group, a consulting firm, said so far the city’s national security law, although used to quell disagreements, has not had much of an impact on business. and finances.
But the effect of the law and Beijing’s review of the area’s political system remains to be seen, he said.
“People who care about the Hong Kong financial system need to think about it,” Tong said.
Hong Kong flourished for decades as the trading port to China, but in 2000 it was hailed as the world’s busiest container port by facilities on the Chinese mainland. Two decades later, with cargo volume barely 10% above its 2000 level, Hong Kong’s port is 8th in the world. Shanghai, Shenzhen and three other Chinese ports are larger.
Hong Kong’s stock market, once Asia’s largest outside Japan, also grew steadily, but slipped behind local competitors.
Companies traded in Hong Kong have a total market value of $ 5.4 trillion, compared to $ 8.2 trillion for the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Companies on China’s second stock exchange in Shenzhen are worth $ 6.2 trillion, according to the World Federation of Exchanges.
Tongue is among those who believe that Hong Kong’s recent setbacks are only temporary.
“The current status is that Hong Kong is a very important global center, one of the most important in the world, and it plays a unique and critical role in linking the Chinese economy with the rest of the world economy and in financing channeling both directions. . , ”Says Tong.
The city, meanwhile, is nurturing its role as a center for innovation by setting up research centers that have helped incubate dozens of start-up companies.
A vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Rocky S. Tuan, pointed to medical and biotechnology research as one of the city’s lesser-known strengths. He wrote in the South China Morning Post newspaper that “Hong Kong provides access to capital, expertise, global regulatory recognition of its clinical trial data and a network of world-class universities.”
This can give the city an edge over local competitors.
“Other cities in the region, especially Singapore, might be more of an Asian hub or Southeast Asia hub,” said Tommy Wu of Oxford Economics. “Hong Kong’s business will focus primarily on Greater China.”
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