The US didn’t get any presents from Santa this Christmas; it was deemed “naughty”

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

Being nice is not in the American vocabulary. Suffering from an acute superiority complex, the US is trying, unsuccessfully, to conquer the world. In the middle east, it is war with weapons of mass destruction, in the east it is with words and political manoeuvring.

Take the latest 2024 Annual Report by the US Congressional-Executive Committee on China for example. The 36-page document is sprinkled with lies from start to finish. It champions the local dissidents who have absconded overseas to seek safe havens in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK.

To indicate the validity of the report one of the key “witnesses” was China hawk Marco Rubio, Trump’s candidate for Secretary of State, called out major American corporations for their “cowardly” efforts to lobby against his bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would prevent U.S. firms from importing goods produced wholly or in part with slave labor. Rubio is by far the greatest hawk in the US and confirmation of his post as head of US foreign affairs does not bide well for us.

Not only is Rubio interfering in China and Hong Kong affairs, but also that of American businesses. Some 1400 members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, the largest Amcham outside the USA, are affected by Rubio’s rhetoric and Biden/Trump decisions. Due to the multitude of sanctions the US administration has passed on to Hong Kong companies and individuals, the US businesses are having a hard time to continue their trade and services in this Pearl of the Orient.

As an example of what the congressional session hears, Rubio told his peers that Hong Kong’s National Security Law severely limited judges’ freedom of action; the authorities were intent on quashing even peaceful dissent (police approved 382 processions and 15892 public meetings in 2023 – the second highest since 2014); the banning of the Glory to Hong Kong protest song; physical and sexual violence by prison guards against juvenile offenders; and the list of his imaginary breaches of the Basic Law goes on and on.

The 70,000Americans living in Hong Kong must shudder when hearing this false narrative from the highest authorities in the US. In fact, it was enough to force some 15,000 Americans to leave Hong Kong from the start of the riots in 2018. For them, enough is enough and the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the US administration and the menagerie of China-hating politicians seeking glory through soundbites decrying China and Hong Kong.

Hong Kong authorities must be terribly frustrated by repeatedly debunking these false claims designed to divide the HKSAR from the mainland. But they must continue to refute these deliberate lies to maintain the integrity of Hong Kong and China.

A Hong Kong Government spokesman described the report as “a smack of despicable political manipulation with ill intentions.”

On safeguarding national security, the report said “the arbitrary application of national security laws has led to the imprisonment of dissidents and activists, further eroding fundamental freedoms in the city. Ongoing criminal prosecution on charges involving national security and sedition against individuals who peacefully exercised their rights included news media executives Jimmy Lai and Chung Pui-kuen, human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung, and student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung. Hong Kong police issued warrants of arrest on at least 13 exiled activists and offered rewards for information leading to their arrest. These individuals advocated for democratic reform and for imposing financial sanctions on Hong Kong and People’s Republic of China (PRC) officials who perpetrated human rights violations.”

Those arrested in Hong Kong for illegal activities are no better than those arrested and charged in the January 9, 2021, storming of Capitol Hill in Washington DC. In 2019-20 Hong Kong experienced fully blown riots; they were not peaceful demonstrations. Freedoms are not absolute in Hong Kong or Washington or anywhere else and breaches of the peace are dealt with the full force of the law. This is universal.

The Hong Kong government spokesman retorted: “The HKSAR Government strongly opposes the absurd and untrue content regarding legislation safeguarding national security. In accordance with international law and international practice based on the Charter of the United Nations, safeguarding national security is an inherent right of all sovereign states. Many common law jurisdictions, including the US, UK, Australia and Canada have enacted multiple pieces of legislation and implemented measures to safeguard national security.”

The US does not understand the meaning of peace. It wages war throughout the world and if it cannot find a war, it will make one. President-elect Donald Trump comes across as an opponent of war and, he says, that with the help of China he will restore peace in the middle east. But if the present trend of hostility towards the east continues, he will have little chance of getting President Xi Jinping on side.

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

Hong Kong is facing a dilemma as more locals are spending their dollars outside of the city than what the visitors are bringing in.

Relaxed visa/permit restrictions for locals and foreign residents alike is making it easier for travel to the mainland while inbound traffic crossing the boundary is low budget and spending less on accommodation and food.

Tourism is an important pillar for Hong Kong’s economy. In pre-COVID times, tourism accounted for about four per cent of the territory’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provided for about six per cent of total employment.

In Hong Kong’s heydays, the city saw about 65 million tourists in 2018, of which 51 million came from the mainland. It was boom time for retailers and restaurants. Long queues of mainland shoppers would line the streets along Canton Road and elsewhere waiting to buy luxury items from Gucci, Prada, Tiffany’s and other high-end stores which set up shop in Hong Kong to tap this lucrative market.

Today many restaurants and retail outlets are closing down, especially in the boundary towns of Sheung Shui and Yuen Long. The market is no longer there, and high rental costs make it almost impossible to survive.

During the 2025/2026 festive season, Hong Kong saw a 25.6 per cent rise in inbound trips on New Year’s Day 2026 (664,338 trips), but this was still countered by a massive 515,954 outbound exits on the same day.

Winston Yeung, chair of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants & Related Trades, told local media that business was sluggish during the Christmas holiday, with some restaurant owners calling it “the slowest business at Christmas over the past 10 years.”

Unfortunately, the local market is not propping up the tourism outlets. Instead, the locals are traveling in large numbers to Shenzhen and Macau and other parts of China for day trips or extended holidays, thereby providing a leakage in the local economy.

While Hong Kong received more than an estimated 45 million visitors last year, more than about 100 million departures were recorded by the Immigration Department of locals leaving Hong Kong by plane, train or bus mainly to the mainland (75 per cent), and to other major Asian destinations.

Hong Kong has 320 hotels offering 92,907 rooms, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Despite mainlanders’ choice of more budget accommodation, occupancy rates for the hotel industry remained high at 88 per cent last year. The major hotels are not affected by the change in mainlanders’ preferences as they rely more on the affluent international tourist, visiting Hong Kong for business, conventions or holidays.

Property developer, Caldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) says Hong Kong’s hospitality market currently presents various investment-ready assets including rare investment opportunities for upper upscale and luxury hotels. These high-end properties are particularly attractive due to their resilience, as they are less reliant on Chinese group travelers and enjoy sustained spending power among affluent individual travelers and international visitors. This makes them attractive for investors seeking stable returns in a dynamic market.

To encourage locals to spend more at home and at the same time provide a bonus for tourists, Hong Kong has organised a series of mega events, many held in the new sports stadium on the site of the old Kai Tak airport in Kowloon. Traditional events in 2026 will include the French May Arts festival in March, Hong Kong Book Fair in July, Hong Kong performing Arts Expo in October, the World Snooker Grand Prix in February, and, of course, the international dragon boat races in June.

Blockbusters will include BlackPink World tour in January, the Hong Kong marathon, which draws in runners and their supports from around the world, and the Hong Kong Tennis Open also in January.

That is good for the inbound and outbound tourists alike. But more needs to be done to tip the tourism scales to a surplus for Hong Kong’s economy to grow at a faster pace. As the saying goes charity starts at home, so it is up to us as local residents who have reaped the benefits of the city to spend more in local restaurants and retail outlets than spend it elsewhere. Support local enterprises. After all, the restaurants in Hong Kong are ranked among the best in the world and are tax free as against a value-added tax applied to restaurants and shops in the mainland.