Hong Kong businesses suffer amid tight security during Zhang visit

Retailers around the areas the state leader visited during his three-day trip to Hong Kong this week complained the security measures in place drove customers away

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Streets were closed off during Zhang’s three day visit to Hong Kong. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 8:02am, 20 May 2016Updated: 10:36am, 20 May 2016

Beijing’s third highest-ranking official, Zhang Dejiang, was given a warm welcome by the city’s top officials during the three-day visit, but shops and restaurants near his hotel in Wan Chai felt the chill.

Some shops and restaurants inside Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre were forced to suspend services for a day when the state leader gave a 20-minute keynote speech at a forum on Wednesday. Two trade fairs – which were scheduled to take place at same venue as Zhang’s speech – were relocated to AsiaWorld-Expo, next to the airport on Lantau.

Other retailers in Wan Chai also saw a significant drop in sales during the three days as key roads were sealed off for security purposes, with a book retailer describing the situation as being as bad as it was during the Occupy movement in 2014.

Construction work at two sites near the exhibition centre for the Sha Tin-Central rail link and Wan Chai bypass, were suspended for four days from Monday, with the MTR saying any cost incurred would be borne by the government and that the workers involved were deployed to other construction sites.

It is not known if shops will be compensated, as the venue operator Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Limited as well as the forum organiser Hong Kong Trade Development Council and Commerce and Economic Development Bureau all declined to disclose whether they were responsible.