The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong spoke about increased risks of doing business in the city after Washington issued an advisory, highlighting desire for reassurances and more clarity about the national security law.
According to AmCham Hong Kong president Tara Joseph, the advisory issued last Friday served less as a source of new information but more as a wake-up call.
«It’s unusual for the U.S. government to put out a business advisory, so something like that has shaken awake anyone who wasn’t aware of the changes or the new normal that we’re experiencing in Hong Kong,» Joseph said in an interview with «Bloomberg Television».
«For our members and most of the companies that are on the ground here, we’ve been living with this for a while so we’re quite aware of what’s happening on the ground and positioning ourselves to deal with it. But there are increased risks.»
Free Flow of Information
Since the imposition of the national security law, there have been increasing worries about the free flow of information and this has been further spotlighted after an industry group of major tech companies recently spoke out about concerns regarding the newly proposed anti-doxxing law.
«One of the key attributes of Hong Kong is that you can go onto Google, you can go onto Facebook and any other platform you want versus what you can do in mainland China,» Joseph said.
«So I do think it’s important for the government to recognize that, and to be open and say we’re going to maintain that free flow of information.»
Commercial Law
In addition, Joseph also highlighted concerns that the national security law would affect other parts of the legal system that would affect businesses.
«Rule of law is all-important for companies here,» she said.
«And so you have to separate whether the national security law is tapping away at any other aspect of law that would affect companies, such as commercial law. There’s nothing obvious there right now. But it starts to set people questioning those things.»
