中國企業主導香港經濟的關鍵部分 (1/2)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Chinese Firms Are Dominating Key Parts of Hong Kong’s Economy (1/2)

Bloomberg - Kiuyan Wong, Shirley Zhao and John Cheng

Sun, June 26, 2022, 2:00 PM

(Bloomberg) -- Half way to the point when Hong Kong will officially be enveloped by China, Beijing is not just calling the shots politically, but in vast swathes of the city’s $344 billion economy.

From the stock exchange to brokerages, construction projects to the retail sector, Chinese state-controlled firms are increasingly dominating, taking market share away from the local tycoons and British trading houses that thrived under the final decades of UK rule.

Those behind the growing Chinese influence view Hong Kong’s economy as stagnant, slow to embrace the technology-driven, new economy industries that have been catalysts for growth on the mainland. Chinese enterprises have been handed more political power in the city, including a recent revamp of the electoral system that reduced the influence of local businesspeople and added greater representation for state-backed companies.

“Hong Kong has come to a crucial crossroads,” said Simon Lee, a Hong Kong lawmaker and Greater Bay Area chief strategist for China Resources Group, a state-owned conglomerate. “With all these challenges, we need to make sure different voices are included in our policy making and mainland Chinese enterprises need to take greater responsibility in our society, economy and politics.”

While the mainland economy now faces its own host of challenges, and substantial political resistance to Beijing’s overpowering influence remains -- especially among local youth who don’t identify as Chinese -- the mainland-ization of Hong Kong’s business life increasingly looks irreversible.

We take a look at how it’s playing out, sector by sector:

Finance

Back in 1997, local brokers such as Peregrine and Somerley Capital, along with foreign banks including Morgan Stanley ruled the city’s finance industry. Fast forward to this year, and China International Capital Corp., China Merchants Bank Co. and Citic Securities Co. dominate listings. Almost 100 local brokers have closed over the past four years, battered by competition.

But more worrying for Hong Kong’s status as a gateway to China is that Chinese firms are choosing to raise capital at home, rather than in the city. Shanghai and Shenzhen have seen $37 billion in initial public offerings this year, compared with just $2.4 billion in Hong Kong.

In 1993, Tsingtao Brewery Co. became the first Chinese company to list in Hong Kong, and by 1999 that number had grown to 44, according to the Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. Now the city’s exchange hosts 1,370 mainland firms, accounting for almost 80% of the market’s value.

Chinese firms are catching up to foreign firms in terms of placing their regional headquarters in Hong Kong, more than doubling since 1997. Foreign businesses have also been clamoring for the city to relax its strict quarantine rules imposed over the past three years. In March, a survey by the European Chamber of Commerce showed a quarter of European companies in Hong Kong plan to fully relocate operations out of the city.

Telecommunications

China Mobile Ltd., the mainland’s largest mobile operator, has become a dominant force in Hong Kong since it entered the market in 2006 after acquiring the fourth-largest wireless carrier. Today, the company has the biggest share of commercial mobile airwaves, beating three other competitors controlled by CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., billionaire Richard Li and Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd.’s Kwok family. China Mobile is leading in the next generation 5G, holding the largest share of the spectrum along with Li’s HKT Trust & HKT Ltd.

(to be continued)

Translation

（彭博社）- 在香港正式將被中國完全掌控的一半進程裡，北京不僅在政治上主宰着，而且在這座城市 3,440 億美元經濟的大片區域內發號施令。

從證券交易所到券商，從建築項目到零售業，中國國有控股公司正日益佔據主導地位，將市場份額從在英國統治的最後幾十年蓬勃發展的當地大亨和英國貿易公司手中奪走。

那些支持中國影響力不斷增長的人士認為，香港經濟是停滯不前，對能推動內地增長的技術驅動的新經濟產業發展只作出緩慢的接納。中國企業在這座城市獲得了更多的政治權力，包括最近對選舉制度進行了改革，降低了當地商人的影響力，而增加了國有企業的代表性。

香港立法會議員、國有企業集團華潤集團的大灣區首席策略師 Simon Lee 說: “香港已經走到了一個關鍵的十字路口”; “面對所有這些挑戰，我們需要確保在我們的政策制定中包含不同的聲音，而中國大陸企業需要在我們的社會、經濟和政治中承擔更大的責任。”

雖然內地經濟現在面臨著自身的一系列挑戰，而且對北京的壓倒性影響仍然存在巨大的政治阻力 - 尤其是在不認同中國人的當地青年中 - 但香港商業生活的內地化似乎越來越不可逆轉。

我們逐個行業看看它是如何發揮作用的：

金融

早在 1997 年，Peregrine 和 Somerley Capital 等本地券商以及包括摩根士丹利在內的外資銀行統治了香港的金融業。把時間快速推前到今年，中國國際金融股份有限公司、招商銀行股份有限公司和中信證券股份有限公司主導上市。在過去四年中，近 100 家本地經紀人因競爭而倒閉。

但更令人擔憂的是，香港作為通往中國的門戶的地位, 是中國公司選擇在國內而不是在香港籌集資金。上海和深圳今年的首次公開募股達到 370 億美元，而香港僅為 24 億美元。

根據香港交易及結算所有限公司的數據，1993 年，青島啤酒成為第一家在香港上市的中國公司，到 1999 年，這一數字已增至 44 家。現在，該市的交易所擁有 1,370 家內地公司，佔幾乎市場價值的80%。

在把地區總部設在香港方面，中國公司正在趕上外國公司，自 1997 年以來翻了一番多。外國企業也一直在呼籲香港放寬過去三年實施的嚴格檢疫規定。 3 月，歐洲商會的一項調查顯示，四分之一的在香港歐洲公司計劃將業務全面遷出香港。

電信

中國移動是內地最大的移動運營商，自2006年收購香港第四大無線運營商後進入市場，已成為香港的主導力量。如今，該公司擁有最大的商業移動電波份額，擊敗了由長江和記控股有限公司、億萬富翁李澤楷, 和新鴻基地產有限公司的郭氏家族控制的三個競爭對手。中國移動在下一代 5G 方面處於領先地位，與李氏的 HKT Trust & HKT Ltd. 一起佔據頻譜的最大份額。

(代續)