Hong Kong stronger as global financial hub with national security law

"Strong heartbeat"

Responding to a recent US government warning about doing business in Hong Kong, American businessman Jim Thompson, who has operated a business in Hong Kong for 55 years, said the US intervention was pointless.

"Most of us think it's a ridiculous and unnecessary effort on the part of the United States. We don't need a warning from US President Joe Biden or his advisers because we know what we're doing," said Thompson, chairman of logistics company Crown Worldwide Group.

While the United States has imposed sanctions on Hong Kong over the past year, including freezing assets of its officials and revoking its special trade status, Hong Kong is largely unscathed. Most businesses here remain unchanged.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said Hong Kong is still a critical facilitator of trade and financial flow between the East and West, and it has a crucial role to play as an international business hub.

Hong Kong has one of the best infrastructures in Asia, an internationally-recognized system of commercial law, and a more open and sophisticated digital infrastructure than many of its Asian peers, the chamber said.

After doing business here for decades, Thompson remains a staunch believer in Hong Kong.

"Businesses like to operate in a stable environment, with a fair rule of law and a non-corrupt and safe operating atmosphere to have comfort," Thompson said as he welcomed the restoration of stability by the national security law.

"There is no better place in Asia to operate the regional office of a multinational than Hong Kong," he said.

Hong Kong "has always had a very strong heartbeat and that beat remains very strong today," said the businessman.

In 2020, some 9,000 overseas and mainland companies operate in Hong Kong, over 40 percent of which have their regional headquarters or offices here. Business registrations also grew steadily in the first half of this year, adding to evidence of investors' confidence in Hong Kong.