Hong Kong Stock Exchange CEO Charles Li (PHOTO/BLOOMBERG)
HONG KONG - Charles Li Xiaojia, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, has joined the long list of local dignitaries who have thrown their weight behind the proposed national security law for the SAR.
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Li said the law, which will criminalize secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign meddling, will not have a substantial long-term negative impact on the city’s status as a global financial center, as feared by critics.
Hong Kong is being used as a “political football” by the US, with the national security legislation being a convenient pretext, Li said
Instead, Hong Kong will become more open with stronger support from Beijing, after the central government’s concerns are eased and its confidence in the city bolstered by the new law, he wrote in his blog on Friday.
The legislation will be narrowly tailored to address specific national security concerns, and will not undermine or erode the political and personal freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong people or the city’s rule of law, Li said.
The impending national security law will help safeguard “one country”, which will in turn further enhance “two systems”, he said
The “one country, two systems” framework remains unequivocally in line with the interests of the city, of the country, and of the world, he stressed.
Citing as examples the financial hubs of New York and London, which are both bound by national security legislation, Li said the new law will not bring about considerable changes to the fundamentals of Hong Kong’s international financial market or to the way it operates.
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The proposed legislation will have no bearing on any laws and regulations governing commercial activities, contractual arrangements, financial transactions, capital flows, dispute resolutions and the movement of people or talent and flows of information and data, he said.
In many ways, he said the Chinese mainland will continue to reform its domestic financial systems by modeling itself on Hong Kong.
The HKEX chief also pointed out that China-US relations are at a crossroads, and most expect tensions to continue, particularly against the backdrop of the upcoming US presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic
Hong Kong is being used as a “political football”, with the legislation being a convenient pretext, Li said.
So the analysis must center on whether the “political footballing” could hurt Hong Kong and whether Hong Kong can cope, Li said.
