Hong Kong No 2 official condemns Wall Street Journal’s ‘ill-intended and gravely biased’ editorial on mega financial summit
- Chief Secretary Eric Chan writes to New York-based paper’s editor, saying piece is a ‘brazen demonstration of disrespect’ for financial leaders who attended
- Editorial titled ‘Wall Street’s Hong Kong Kowtow’ accuses American attendees of being ‘used as prop by Hong Kong officials’
Hong Kong’s No 2 official has condemned The Wall Street Journal over an editorial on the city’s recently concluded financial summit, calling the commentary by the New York-based international daily “ill-intended and gravely biased” and an insult to many of the globally renowned participants.
Arguing that the newspaper had a malicious intent to demonise the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit at all costs, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki on Saturday defended the three-day mega event, billed as the curtain-raiser for Hong Kong’s grand reopening to the world.
The editorial, titled “Wall Street’s Hong Kong Kowtow” and published on Thursday, centred on American participation at the event, accusing attendees of being “used as prop by Hong Kong officials to revive the city’s reputation as a commercial centre amid their continuing purge of all dissent, and the destruction of a free press and independent judiciary”.
The editorial also cited Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in his opening speech at the summit on Tuesday as saying “Hong Kong always bounces back, better than ever”, arguing Lee “wants everyone to imagine that nothing has changed in the formerly free city where British contract law used to prevail”.
It added that declarations of judicial independence and freedom of speech, the press, and assembly in Hong Kong “are now enshrined and protected in name only”.
“James Gorman from Morgan Stanley, David Solomon from Goldman Sachs, Rob Kapito from BlackRock and Daniel Pinto from JPMorgan Chase surely know this,” the editorial stated.
The piece also hit out at the city’s national security law, citing online magazine ChinaFile in pointing out the arrests of at least 213 people under the legislation.
“The US Treasury sanctioned Mr Lee in 2020 for his role in Hong Kong’s crackdown. Did the execs mention the US sanctions to their hosts? Even once? Or were they afraid that their business licences in the territory might be in jeopardy? … Maybe someone in the next Congress should ask the execs to appear and explain why they kowtowed to Mr Lee.”
