Hong Kong’s New Security Law Brings Anxiety to Finance Hub
- Business leaders say measure is broader than China-imposed law
- Article 23 comes as city tries to revive global hub reputation
Hong Kong’s leader John Lee has spent the past year trying to revive a business environment battered by pandemic curbs and China’s economic slowdown. His decision to enact a domestic security law risks undermining those efforts.
The planned legislation, outlined in a briefing by Lee on Tuesday, is more expansive than some business leaders were anticipating and threatens to exacerbate tensions with the US. While it’s too early to tell how banks and other big employers will ultimately respond, members of the finance community privately expressed concern over a potential chilling effect on open discussion of economic and policy issues.