Hong Kong will survive the current turmoil. Hongkongers are survivors and been there before. Not only those born in Hong Kong, but those of us who are immigrants from America, China, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Canada, Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East and everywhere else on earth. We survived back home — and will collectively survive together again in Hong Kong.
Yes the economy has tanked as a result of the protests. Tourism is down more than 40% since last year, hotels and restaurants are empty and retail stores are empty and abandoning their leases. It isn’t a pretty picture thanks to Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the incompetent bureaucratic and out-of-touch Chief Executive with no political vision, and her clueless-paralyzed cabinet and Executive Council.
Hong Kong has been there before. The SARS crisis in 2003, pre-1997 Handover and riots of 1967.
Hongkongers moved their money and company headquarters offshore then and some are doing so again today. But not as many. Hongkongers are cautious and putting their plan B’s in place, but not many are betting and banking on them versus Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s stock market performance and bank liquidity are the best evidence of the city’s resilience as the city marked the 20th weekend of violent protests.
“The financial stability in Hong Kong remains intact…. The exchange rate remains within the pegged range and is very stable… The banking sector is very resilient and ample of liquidity. So financial stability of Hong Kong over the past few months has been maintained very well,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po told officials during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum for finance ministers in Santiago, Chile last week, as well as the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington D.C.
China needs Hong Kong now more than ever. Hong Kong is China’s gateway to international markets and source of foreign capital and investment. Especially now!
The political unrest and protests in Hong Kong are a concern. But not as big a worry as the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, looming recession and rising chorus of questions about the incarceration, reeducation and human rights of Uygurs in Xinjiang.
In due course, Hong Kong’s political leadership will be replaced and Hong Kong will get back on the road of economic and business recovery. Stronger and wiser.
We Shall Overcome!
When and How remains to be seen.