HONG KONG, July 16 — Beijing’s tough new security law and President Donald Trump’s order to rescind special trading privileges have blunted Hong Kong’s competitive edge and risk turning the finance hub into just another Chinese city, analysts warn. Once lauded as an oasis of...
The Bank of China , or BOCHK, building is seen between other commercial buildings in Hong Kong July 16, 2020. — AFP pic
As 2019 came to a close, the city was already deep in recession because of spiralling US-China trade tensions and months of huge, often violent pro-democracy protests.Late last month Beijing blanketed the city in a game-changing anti-subversion law aimed at ending protests against its increasingly authoritarian rule.
While analysts and multi-nationals knew the move to strip the city of its trading privileges was coming, some were taken aback by the breadth of the executive order that followed. “Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China — no special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies,” Trump said.
Both China and Hong Kong’s government denounced Washington’s move yesterday, vowing some sort of reciprocal response.“ acts are hypocritical and will certainly cause very serious damage to American companies and citizens,” Hong Kong’s government said.While the precise impact of the new restrictions will take time to manifest, Julia Friedlander from the Atlantic Council said the latest measures “erect trade barriers and sever deeply integrated financial ties for Hong Kong with the United States”.
Last week, city leader Carrie Lam pointed to the city’s stock market as proof the business community was not worried.
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