City Beat | What’s behind the double benefits for Hong Kong under China’s new foreign investment law?
- City is lucky to enjoy the best of both worlds but those advantages also mean growing international scrutiny
- One concern is Beijing’s right to conduct a ‘national security review’ of foreign firms
With Premier Li Keqiang’s press conference, broadcast live nationwide last Friday, the curtain came down on China’s most important annual political event, known as the “two sessions”.
To the relief of the local business community watching the yearly gathering of the national legislature and the country’s top political advisory body in Beijing, Li had a reassuring message: China’s new foreign investment law would apply to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
While the premier’s reassurance means a lot to entrepreneurs and investors in these three jurisdictions looking for future investment incentives, isn’t it awkward or even problematic that confidence in the law hinges on a top leader’s personal promise rather than the legislation itself?
Like it or not, this reflects the Chinese-style approach of “Just go ahead and do it when a leader says it’s OK”, rather than waiting for specific rules and regulations, which take time.
Beijing’s top man in charge of Hong Kong and Macau affairs, Zhang Xiaoming, also gave a similar assurance earlier to investors in the country’s two special administrative regions that their interests would be protected by the new law.
