The American think tank Atlantic Council ( Alantic Council) published a detailed report on Hong Kong's business environment on Tuesday (7th), concluding that foreign-funded enterprises that remain in Hong Kong must reassess the political and economic risks of investing in Hong Kong because of the rule of law in Hong Kong . The fundamentals have deteriorated, coupled with heightened geopolitical risks, all of which will shake Hong Kong's status as a financial center.
The report also studied the possibility of maintaining Hong Kong's linked exchange rate in a longer section. It mentioned that the Hong Kong government no longer has the ability to decide its own financial policy, and all major decisions are based on Beijing's political needs.
Report: Beijing's Will Overrides Bureaucracy and Scientific Decision-Making
The council report pointed out that the National Security Law overrides the government agencies established in accordance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, and neither individuals nor the business community should challenge the National Security Law. Under the National Security Law, independent media and democratic politicians are suppressed, which damages the freedom of information, but this is exactly the basic condition of a modern commercial and financial system.
The report believes that Hong Kong has replicated mainland China's epidemic prevention policies in the past two years, which shows that Hong Kong's governance has been influenced by Beijing, that is, political decision-making has surpassed the technical bureaucracy and scientific decision-making.
Report: Beijing may sacrifice Hong Kong peg for domestic stability
On the issue of the linked exchange rate, the report pointed out that maintaining the linked exchange rate system is beneficial to both Hong Kong and mainland China from a theoretical perspective. The Hong Kong dollar is detached from the U.S. dollar and pegged to the renminbi. At that time, the Hong Kong government will be unable to prevent Beijing from doing so. The biggest problem is that the outside world no longer trusts the Hong Kong government's decision to maintain the linked exchange rate system, because everyone will only look at Beijing's final wishes.
Report: It is difficult for enterprises to survive the competition between the United States and China
The report pointed out that another major business risk in Hong Kong is that it is caught in the fierce competition between the United States and China. If one party imposes economic sanctions, the other party will take retaliatory measures. Foreign companies, especially international financial institutions, will be exposed to Under the huge risk of double sanctions, the first to bear the brunt are 78 large financial institutions in Hong Kong .
Report : Businessmen Cannot Survive National Law Security
The report quoted some businessmen who are still in Hong Kong as saying that as long as they do not violate the National Security Law, they can do business as usual , but in fact, according to China’s definition, the National Security Law is so powerful that it can involve all economic activities. In the mainland, even stock exchanges It can be said that it is related to national security, and this set of definitions can be applied to Hong Kong at any time.
Report: Civil lawsuits do not protect businesses
According to the report, civil litigation cases are increasingly closely related to the business community. However, the Hong Kong National Security Council can intervene in any case at any time, that is, the judiciary. The decision-making power is ultimately in the hands of Beijing, not Hong Kong's rule of law system. Another risk raised by the report is the data security of private companies, because national security law enforcement officers have the power to inspect the databases of all companies and even transmit data to mainland China.
Report: Freedom of information tied to financial center status
The last paragraph of the report concluded that to measure whether Hong Kong’s status as a commercial and financial center is still valued, it only needs to look at whether the number of local and international media in Hong Kong is shrinking, because the two are directly proportional . Hong Kong's economic recovery is contradictory to the shrinking freedom of information, publishing and speech.
United Nations report: "National Security Law" abolishes the independence of Hong Kong's judiciary Comments: The biggest warning signal since the opening of the port
According to the latest UN report, the Hong Kong National Security Law has actually abolished Hong Kong's judicial independence. Commentators believe that last year the United Nations urged the Hong Kong government to take action to abolish the "National Security Law", but the language of this report appears to be stronger. Even though the CCP has infiltrated various United Nations organizations for many years, it can still produce this tepid report, which shows that it has the common support of the vast majority of the democratic and free world, and countries have a better foundation to countermeasures.
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), recently submitted its fourth report on Hong Kong in accordance with the "International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights", which mentioned that the "Hong Kong National Security Law" has actually abolished Hong Kong's judicial independence ( de facto abolished the independence of the judiciary of Hong Kong SAR) and called for a review of the National Security Law to ensure that the independence of the judiciary is not interfered with. (ensure that national security legislation is not arbitrarily used to interfere with it.) On the other hand, the Committee is concerned that the widespread use of the National Security Line may be detrimental to the work of civil society, trade unions, teachers and other actors, so the Committee It is also proposed to abolish the "National Security Hotline".
In terms of educational rights, the report also pointed out that the Hong Kong National Security Law has been used to censor educators and students, affecting academic freedom, and even leading to their dismissal and/or arrest.
Opinion: UN admits Hong Kong lacks judicial independence even as CCP infiltrates
Current affairs commentator and lawyer Sang Pu accepted an interview with this station on Tuesday (7th), saying that even though the CCP has infiltrated various United Nations organizations for many years, it can still come up with this tepid report, which shows that it is shared by most of the democratic and free world. Support and agree that there is no true judicial independence in Hong Kong.
Sang Pu said: The CCP believes that judicial independence is unpopular, and he (the CCP) no longer cares whether Hong Kong has it. This situation has a considerable impact on Hong Kong. Common law is most important to judge based on logic and experience, but I have seen many cases, such as the "47 case", Jimmy Lai's "Apple Daily case", Zhong Peiquan's "Stand News case", many protesters on the front line in 2019, they Many of them have been tried, and even many of them have been detained beyond the time limit. For some pretentiousness in the trial and talking about some irrelevant issues, without making a commitment to human rights, Hong Kong's judiciary is degraded like this.
Report provides basis to give countries more reason to countermeasures
He does not think that the Chinese and Hong Kong governments will change because of this report, but this is a historical mark. He continued that the report provided a basis and a source of information, which gave countries more reasons to take countermeasures, and therefore deserved attention.
Comment: The investment risk is extremely high, the biggest warning signal since the opening of Hong Kong
Checking the information, the United Nations Human Rights Committee published the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in Hong Kong in July last year, which also urged the Hong Kong government to take action to abolish the National Security Law and stop applying the law.
Xu Zhifeng, a former member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, told this station on the same day that this report directly shows that the "Hong Kong National Security Law" will abolish Hong Kong's judicial independence, and the tone is stronger than last year's "Convention".
Xu Zhifeng said: He did not stop the deterioration of Hong Kong's freedom and judicial independence. He saw an escalated human rights violation compared with the previous year. This report accurately reflects it, and I fully agree with it.
He continued that without judicial independence, investment risks would be extremely high. This is the biggest warning sign since Hong Kong was opened as a port. In addition, Hong Kong's ratings in various aspects such as freedom and business environment will also be affected by this report clearly stating that "Hong Kong's judicial independence has actually been abolished".
Xu Zhifeng said: I think it will be a snowball rolling. When the judicial independence falls, I think the indicators of many aspects such as people's livelihood and business will be reduced, which will affect all aspects. For example, academic freedom of universities may also be implicated. .
Hong Kong Government: Resolutely reject the committee's insistence on making inaccurate content in many aspects
In response to this report, the Hong Kong government issued a statement late at night on Monday (6th), strongly opposing this review conclusion. A Hong Kong government spokesman said the committee's proposal to review the Hong Kong National Security Law was "not only groundless, but also puzzling." The spokesperson said, "The Committee completely disregards the basic rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents, which have been guaranteed at the constitutional level in accordance with the Basic Law. After the implementation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong, Hong Kong residents continue to enjoy various rights and freedoms, including those mentioned in the review conclusion. The right and freedom to form trade unions, academic freedom, artistic freedom, and the right to enjoy culture and science.
The HKSAR government reiterated that the establishment of a mechanism to safeguard national security in the HKSAR "will not compromise the independent judiciary, and the Hong Kong judicial system will continue to be protected by the Basic Law". "When judges handle cases involving threats to national security, they perform their judicial duties independently and impartially, free from any interference."
Regarding the committee's proposal to abolish the "National Security Department Reporting Hotline", the SAR government stated that it is unreasonable to set up a hotline to facilitate citizens to provide information or reports related to national security through different platforms.
The committee held a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on the 15th and 16th of last month on the fourth report submitted by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. A spokesman for the Hong Kong government said, "The delegation had a dialogue with the committee in an open, respectful, cooperative and responsible manner, actively responded to questions, and clarified its misunderstandings about the human rights situation in Hong Kong."
Earlier, CECC reiterated its call for sanctions against Hong Kong Attorney General's Prosecutors
In addition to the United Nations report bluntly stating that Hong Kong's judicial independence has actually been abolished, the "Congressional-Executive Commission on China" (CECC) under the U.S. Congress also proposed earlier that sanctions should be imposed on members of the Hong Kong judiciary. They issued a statement on the second anniversary of the "primary election case" accused of violating the "Hong Kong National Security Law", citing a research report published in July last year, and again calling on US President Biden to sanction the "primary election case" and other democrats Related cases and the prosecutors of the Department of Justice involved in political prosecutions include Zhou Tianxing, Yang Meiqi, Wu Shujuan, Xiao Qiye, Luo Tianwei, Zhang Zhuoqin, etc.
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