Stephen Phillips, Invest Hong Kong’s director-general of investment promotion, said the National Security Law and Hong Kong electoral system reform make contributions to the city’s business stability. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
Hong Kong’s chief investment promotion official expressed full faith in Hong Kong’s future economic development, as the National Security Law for Hong Kong and recent improvements to the city’s electoral system bring stability to businesses.
Stephen Phillips, director-general of investment promotion at Invest Hong Kong, said the benefits of stability are evident from the encouraging figures from the local business community.
A total of 317 overseas and mainland companies set up or expanded their businesses in Hong Kong in 2020 and created about 8 000 jobs, according to InvestHK’s annual report.
Phillips said the figures are a rebuttal of news reports and statements that claim that political changes in Hong Kong have had a negative impact on the city’s business climate.
“I’ve been in Hong Kong for many years. Thirty-two years, actually, on and off. And over that period, I’ve heard so many headlines about the demise of Hong Kong. And 32 years later, I still don’t see the demise of Hong Kong, nor do I foresee the demise of Hong Kong,” he said.
The investment promotion chief added that the misleading and biased statements against Hong Kong could not impair investors’ confidence to the city.
Hong Kong’s reputation as one of the freest economies remains intact even after the US Heritage Foundation in March excluded Hong Kong from the 2021 Index of Economic Freedom, claiming that Hong Kong was “ultimately controlled by Beijing”.
Local and overseas business communities have observed the benefits of the National Security Law for Hong Kong, which kept the city stable and functioning long enough to set the stage for companies to return to growth, the promotion chief said, adding the “shocking imagery of the violence in 2019” that had tarnished Hong Kong’s reputation as an international level has been replaced by a thriving business atmosphere.
Meanwhile, anybody who went beyond the brief headlines and looked into the reality of Hong Kong will see that the city’s national security provisions were probably no different from those in their home countries, or places where they do business around the world, he said.
“Companies at the end of the day are looking for growth; they’re looking for opportunity,” he said.
Phillips said he encourages all his colleagues to participate in the recently announced program for Hong Kong civil servants to take temporary positions in the mainland governments within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
This is the latest initiative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government to enhance its civil servants’ understanding of the Greater Bay Area as well as the mainland, and to facilitate the city’s integration into national development.
Phillips said he believes he benefited from the opportunities to represent Hong Kong in forming partnerships with the country’s central, provincial, and municipal governments over the past decade. He said that these exchanges and on-the-spot experiences will help the civil servants from the two places overcome differences and forge closer cooperation.
“I think there are differences and legacy perceptions that can only be overcome by seeing the reality. That’s true anywhere in the world. Seeing really is believing,” he said.
