美國向企業發出信息 - 中國及香港予警

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

U.S. Sends Message to Businesses, China with Hong Kong Warning

Nick Wadhams

Fri., July 16, 2021, 7:47 a.m.

(Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration warned investors about the risks of doing business in Hong Kong, issuing an advisory that said China’s push to exert more control over the financial hub threatens the rule of law and endangers employees and data.

The advisory published Friday said Hong Kong’s “new legal landscape” posed particular risks for businesses, investors, individuals and academic institutions, among others, operating in the city.

It said those threats fall into four areas: “risks for businesses following the imposition of the NSL; data privacy risks; risks regarding transparency and access to critical business information; and risks for businesses with exposure to sanctioned Hong Kong or PRC entities or individuals.”

“Business and rule of law risks that were formerly limited to mainland China are now increasingly a concern in Hong Kong,” according to the advisory, which was issued by the Departments of State, Commerce, Treasury and Homeland Security.

The advisory is the latest salvo in a competition that President Joe Biden has called one of the defining challenges of the century, and it signals a remarkable turnaround for a city which over decades became a financial hub on a par with London and New York.

‘One Country, Two Systems’

The move underscored how swiftly China’s push for more control over Hong Kong has brought an end to the “one country, two systems” approach that Beijing had promised when it took back control of the former British colony in 1997. That’s proved a death knell for the island’s independent judiciary, pugnacious media and lively protest movements.

“The situation in Hong Kong is deteriorating, and the Chinese government is not keeping its commitment that it made, how it would deal with Hong Kong,” Biden said Thursday, ahead of the advisory’s release.

Shortly before the advisory was issued, Beijing pledged a “firm response” to any action by Washington.

“We urge the U.S. side to stop interfering in the Hong Kong issue and China’s internal affairs in any form,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular news briefing Friday in Beijing.

While the advisory doesn’t order companies to scale back investments or leave Hong Kong, Biden administration officials worry that major banks and other multinational businesses with headquarters in the city haven’t yet come to grips with just how much the landscape there has changed and how much risk they now face.

Data Access

Specifically, the new advisory warns of the Chinese government’s ability to gain access to data that foreign companies store in Hong Kong.

It comes amid news that China plans to exempt companies going public in Hong Kong from first seeking the approval of the country’s cybersecurity regulator. The exemption, which, according to people familiar with the matter was outlined by officials in recent meetings with bankers, would remove one hurdle for businesses that list in the Asian financial hub instead of the U.S.

The world’s two biggest economies, still so dependent on each other for trade and economic growth, are in confrontations in more and more areas. They are in conflict over the race to develop advanced semiconductor technology, the battle to supply other nations with next-generation telecommunications equipment and the treatment of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region.

Despite the turmoil of the past few years, foreign banks and other companies have rushed to build up their presence in Hong Kong, still seen as a gateway to the broader Chinese market.

Citigroup Inc. said in May that it plans to hire more than 1,000 professionals across its wealth franchise in Hong Kong over the next five years, stepping up its expansion amid an increasingly heated grab for talent in the region. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is hiring 320 staff in China and Hong Kong, as China opens its $54 trillion financial market fully to foreign brokerages and asset managers.

The advisory from the U.S. follows a Trump administration decision last year to roll back special trade privileges granted to Hong Kong in recognition of China’s past promises to ensure a “high degree of autonomy” for the city from Beijing.

Anti-Government Protests

The “one country, two systems” approach to Hong Kong had already been under pressure before massive anti-government protests erupted in 2019. Beijing quickly moved to silence independent voices, arresting protest leaders, imposing a national security law that allows for the extradition of people accused of crimes to China and forcing the closing of Apple Daily, a high-profile media outlet critical of corruption and the Communist Party.

U.S.-China ties will struggle to improve given the political land mines facing the two nations’ leaders in the months and years ahead.

The Biden administration’s support for reopening a review of how the Covid-19 pandemic started -- and whether it leaked from a lab in Wuhan -- infuriated officials in Beijing. China’s leaders were also surprised at the administration’s decision to leave trade tariffs imposed by Trump in place.

Meanwhile, calls are growing for the U.S. to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, while the midterm elections in the U.S. later that year will only amplify the rhetoric. In China, President Xi Jinping will likely sharpen his own tone as he looks to further cement his power with a third five-year term, a reversal of three decades of policy that limited leaders to two terms.

Biden and Xi were to take part Friday in a virtual call among APEC nations. While they have done other virtual events together, Biden hasn’t met Xi in person as president, and officials are undecided how much interaction the two leaders will have at a Group of 20 meeting in Rome this October.

Translation

（彭博社）- 拜登政府就在香港開展業務的風險, 向投資者發出警告，並發布了一份提醒通告，稱中國對這個金融中心施加更多的控制, 威脅到法治並危及員工和數據。

 週五發布的提醒通告稱，香港的“新法律環境”給在香港經營的企業、投資者、個人和學術機構等帶來了特別的風險。

它說這些威脅分為四個方面：“實施國家安全法 (NSL) 後企業面臨的風險；數據隱私風險；有關透明度和關鍵業務信息進接的風險；以及接觸受制裁的香港或中國實體或個人企業的風險。”

根據國務院、商務部、財政部和國土安全部發布的公告，“以前僅限於中國大陸的商業和法治風險, 現在越來越在香港感受到。”

提醒通告是喬拜登總統稱之為本世紀決定性挑戰之一的競爭中的最新一波，它標誌著一個顯著的轉變 - 這座城市幾十年來曾成為與倫敦和紐約相提並論的金融中心。

"一國兩制"

提醒通告突顯出中國推動對香港進行更多控制的速度有多快，結束了北京在 1997 年收回對前英國殖民地控制權時所承諾的“一國兩制”方式。這正為島上獨立的司法機構、愛爭論的媒體和活躍的抗議運動敲響了喪鐘。

拜登週四在公告發布前表示,“香港局勢正在惡化，中國政府沒有履行其作出的承諾，即如何處理香港問題”。

就在該提醒通告發布前不久，北京宣示對華盛頓的任何行動會作出“堅定回應”。

中國外交部發言人趙立堅週五在北京舉行的例行新聞發布會上說：“我們敦促美方停止以任何形式干涉香港問題和中國內政。”

雖然該提醒通告並沒有命令企業縮減投資或離開香港，但拜登政府官員擔心，總部設在香港的主要銀行和其他跨國企業還沒有意識到那裡的格局發生了多大變化，及他們現在面臨多大風險。

數據進接

具體而言，新提醒通告指出企業中國政府有能力獲取外國公司在香港存儲的數據。

有消息稱，中國計劃免除在香港上市的公司首先尋求該國網絡安全監管機構的批准。據知情人士透露，官員們在最近與銀行家的會議上概述了這項豁免，將為在這亞洲金融中心, 而非在美國上市的企業掃除一個障礙。

世界上最大的兩個經濟體在貿易和經濟增長方面仍然如此相互依賴，亦在越來越多的領域發生對抗。他們在開發先進半導體技術的競賽有衝突、在向其他國家提供下一代電信設備以及對待新疆地區少數民族方面有爭端發生。

儘管過去幾年發生了動盪，但外資銀行和其他公司仍爭先恐後地在香港建立業務，香港仍被視為進入更廣闊中國市場的門戶。

花旗集團今年 5 月表示，計劃在未來五年內在香港的財富專營業務中招聘 1,000 多名專業人士，在該地區人才爭奪日趨激烈的情況下加快擴張步伐。隨著中國向外國券商和資產管理公司全面開放其 54 萬億美元的金融市場，高盛集團將在中國大陸和香港招聘 320 名員工。

去年，特朗普政府決定取消授予香港的特殊貿易特權，該貿易特權用以表彰中國過去承諾確保北京對香港實行“高度自治”。

反政府抗議

就是在 2019 年爆發大規模反政府抗議之前，香港的“一國兩制”方式已經受到壓力。現北京迅速採取行動壓制獨立聲音: 逮捕抗議領導人，實施可引渡被指控犯罪的人到中國的國家安全法, 並迫使蘋果日報關閉，這是一家批評腐敗和共產黨的高調媒體。

鑑於兩國領導人在未來幾個月和幾年內面臨的政治地雷，美中關係將難以改善。

拜登政府支持重新審查 Covid-19 大流行是如何發生的 - 及它是否從武漢的一個實驗室洩漏 - 激怒了北京的官員。 中國領導人也對拜登政府決定保留特朗普徵收的貿易關稅感到驚訝。

與此同時，要求美國抵制 2022 年北京冬奧會的呼聲越來越高，而那年較後期的美國中期選舉只會加大這種言論。 在中國，習近平主席可能會加強自己的話語，因為他希望在第三個五年任期內進一步鞏固自己的權力。這是對過去三十年, 把領導人限制為兩屆的政策的一個逆轉。

拜登和習近平將於週五參加亞太經合組織國家之間的網上電話會議。 雖然他們曾一起進行了其他網上虛擬活動，但拜登還沒有親自與習近平會面。官員們不肯定兩位領導人將在今年 10 月在羅馬舉行的 20 國集團會議上進行多少互動。

              So, the Biden administration warns investors about the risks of doing business in Hong Kong. This advisory is a signal that could turnaround Hong Kong as a financial hub on a par with London and New York. It seems that Hong Kong’s “internationality” is shrining fast after the implementation of its National Security Law (NSL). In the calculation of Chinese leaders, political need (e.g., to have total control over Hong Kong) is above everything.