Hong Kong, business and the national security law
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 11 November 2021
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Are Hong Kong's days as a major financial centre now numbered? The end of the pandemic has seen renewed economic growth. But some say tough anti-Covid rules and anti-protest laws are undermining what was once Asia's leading financial hub as thousands of people leave the territory. Ed Butler speaks to Edward Chin, a HK hedge fund manager who's now temporarily moved to Canada following the security crackdown. Tara Joseph, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong tells him recruiting foreign workers into the territory is now proving much harder. Vera Yuen, a business lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, says wealth management services for the Chinese are providing big growth for territory. And Mike Bird, the Hong Kong correspondent of the Economist magazine says both the Covid restrictions and the national security law may start to really hurt Hong Kong in the longer term.
( Pic: Sunrise at Victoria Peak,Hong Kong Credit: Jun Chen / Getty)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there, I'm Ed Butler. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. Today, Hong Kong's NSL or national security law has it fatally undermined what was until recently Asia's leading financial centre. |
| 0:14.8 | When we see that they can use the NSL to override the common law in Hong Kong. |
| 0:21.7 | This is more than chilling. |
| 0:23.5 | This is surreal. |
| 0:25.0 | And once they dismantle this, it's hard to go back to normalcy. |
| 0:29.5 | Along with tough COVID restrictions, some foreign businesses are considering their options. |
| 0:34.5 | Hong Kong thrives on attracting world-class talent, and that has become |
| 0:41.3 | very difficult. That's starting to hurt Hong Kong as a business hub. Hong Kong's commercial future, |
| 0:47.4 | that's here on Business Daily from the BBC. The sound there of tear gas and rioting on the streets of Hong Kong back in 2019. |
| 1:03.9 | How long ago that seems before COVID-19 affected every economy around the world. |
| 1:10.4 | Today the territory is peaceful, quiet. Some say too quiet. |
| 1:15.6 | Many of my friends left. Many of my friends. I received text message asking me when am I going to join them. |
| 1:25.3 | That's Amy, not her real name, a bond trader in Hong Kong, a city that was |
| 1:30.2 | once Asia's leading trading hub. Even the doctors leaves, nurses leaves, teachers leaves, |
| 1:37.8 | every profession leaves. I will leave Hong Kong because I don't find myself happy. I find myself unhappier every day. |
| 1:48.3 | Why does she feel this way? Amy says she doesn't want to be identified for this interview, |
| 1:54.1 | because like many others in Hong Kong, she's scared. The national security law, which was implemented |
| 2:00.0 | in 2019, thanks it seems to pressure from Beijing, |
| 2:03.7 | means that any type of public complaint about the administration may be subject to prosecution. |
| 2:10.0 | People don't trust the government. People don't trust our country. |
| 2:14.5 | Like one of my friends, he used to put up the sticker of support Hong Kong in the house. |
| 2:21.6 | But a few months ago, I went to his house. All stickers have moved away. And he said he's afraid. |
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