A majority of US businesses operating in Hong Kong are worried about the effects of Beijing’s controversial national security legislation imposed on the territory, a survey from the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) showed.
The lobby group said 76 percent of companies were concerned about the sweeping measures barring subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion, with most being “extremely concerned.”
The poll of member companies — which AmCham described as a “temperature test” of sentiments rather than a scientific study — received responses from 183 firms, more than half of which have headquarters in the US.
Photo: AFP
When asked what concerned them most about the law, companies largely echoed concerns voiced by foreign governments and civil society groups, saying they are worried about the ambiguity of the legislation’s scope and enforcement, the threat it poses to Hong Kong’s prized independent judicial system and the risk the territory could lose its status as a global financial hub.
“The potential for arbitrary application of the national security law is frightening to many and Hong Kong’s judiciary is powerless to protect the people and rule of law,” one respondent told AmCham. “Some of our employees have already voted with their feet to leave for safer countries. Many others are very concerned and considering their options.”
Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials have defended the legislation as a necessary step to curb months of sometimes-violent unrest that rocked the territory last year before the global COVID-19 pandemic quieted its protest movement.
Roughly 26 percent of firms said the new law made them feel safer, echoing the government’s arguments about the need for stability — compared with slightly more than 50 percent who said it made them feel less safe. About 22 percent of respondents said they were not concerned about the legislation.
Companies expressed worry about data security issues, retaliatory measures from foreign governments in the form of export controls or tariffs, an erosion of Hong Kong’s guaranteed autonomy and difficulties in hiring and moving talented staff to the territory.
Nearly half of respondents said the possibility of extradition to the mainland for a trial — which the new security legislation allows — was a “game changer” for Hong Kong’s position as a trusted international financial center.
Most companies said they were adopting a “wait-and-see” approach, while some firms were planning to reduce trade and investments in Hong Kong, as well as business travel between the territory and the US.
While two-thirds of companies said they had no plans to leave, about one-third said they would consider moving assets, capital or business operations out of Hong Kong in the “medium-to-long run.”
After Chinese officials in late May announced the legislation, details emerged slowly until the text was unveiled — initially only in Chinese — on June 30, on the eve of the July 1 anniversary of Hong Kong’s 1997 return from British rule.
Nearly 70 percent of respondents to the AmCham survey said they have gradually become more concerned about the legislation.
“The more I learn, the less I like,” another respondent told the business chamber. “We are in China now, no question about it.”
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day