The relationship between Hong Kong and Beijing is like a hand in glove. Hong Kong has consistently been Beijing’s largest source of overseas capital and the preferred destination for its outbound investment.
This relationship was cemented further last week when some 47 projects worth more than US$7.48 billion (HK$57.9 billion) were signed at the 29th Beijing Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium in Beijing. This brought Hong Kong's cumulative investment in Beijing surpassing US$150 billion, accounting for more than 65 per cent of Beijing's total utilized overseas capital.
And the Mayor of Beijing Yin Yong expects both regions to focus on frontier fields such as artificial intelligence, biomedicine and embodied intelligence, supporting enterprises in going global, strengthening financial, trade and economic synergy, and advancing high-standard opening up of new enterprises. This, of course, would mean greater expectations for Hong Kong’s recently announced Norther Metropolis (NM) high tech development, which will occupy one third of Hong Kong’s land along the neighbouring Shenzhen boundary.
This was clearly on the mind of Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu when he said at the symposium that Hong Kong aims to advance two-way financial opening with Beijing to inject robust momentum into economic transformation while seeking to deepen Beijing-Hong Kong collaboration in innovation and technology to establish an international hub for high-end talent.
Indeed, the agreements and 14 thematic sessions during the summit covered high tech services, biopharmaceuticals, commercial aerospace, cultural tourism, the digital economy, modern finance and professional services.
More enterprises from the mainland have been urged to make use of Hong Kong's international professional capabilities, open capital market and roles as a super connector and super value-adder to meet the needs of their target markets and explore new business opportunities.
Already some 245 Beijing enterprises are listed in Hong Kong, with a combined market value exceeding RMB11.17 trillion (US$1.67 trillion), equivalent to 27.36 percent of Hong Kong's stock market value.
Partnerships are a two-way street. While Beijing enterprises are investing heavily in China’s south, Hong Kong entrepreneurs are spending big bucks in the northern capital, particularly in the popular upmarket district of Chaoyang.
Leading the Hong Kong push in Beijing is Swire Properties’ largest single investment in the Mainland with its flagship Taikoo Place Beijing. Upon completion, the integrated development alongside the Ba River will comprise more than 860,000 sqm of gross floor area, bringing together office, retail, hospitality, arts and culture, wellness and nature in a riverside location. Its components will include eight Grade-A office towers, an expanded premium shopping mall spanning indoor and outdoor spaces, a social and wellness hub, a new lifestyle hotel, and expansive areas for arts and culture and recreational activities.
The expanded mall will cover a combined total area of 150,000 sqm and host about 400 retail brands across three interconnected zones: Taikoo Place East, West and Central. A carefully curated mix of lifestyle, dining, leisure and experiential offerings will create an urban oasis in the fashionable district.
Also investing heavily in Beijing is the Sino Group which plans to put another RMB100 million into technology investments over the next 12 months, on top of a freshly closed RMB130 million plus bet on AI developer Moonshot AI.
The Hong Kong property group has now backed more than 30 Beijing-based companies and is accelerating a RMB100 million fund for the science and innovation sector.
Lee’s visit to the north coincided with the inauguration of the Beijing-Hong Kong international Reception Hall and the Beijing-Hong Kong Professional Services Alliance in Chaoyang district known for having the highest concentration of Hong Kong companies in the city.
The reception hall, created by the Chaoyang District Investment Promotion Center, the University of Hong Kong and others serves as a new space for regular exchanges between Beijing and Hong Kong industrial matchmaking, policy briefings, corporate roadshows and other activities.
And the Beijing-Hong Kong Professional Services Alliance aims to integrate the legal, accounting, tax, and investment and financing expertise of Beijing and Hong Kong, providing systematic support for the cross-boundary development of enterprises in both regions.
With thousands of years of culture and tradition Beijing is China, but with modern Hong Kong characteristics in Chaoyang.
Mark Pinkstone
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
The question floating around political pundits is whether the United Kingdom has a right to interfere in Hong Kong affairs by publishing a six monthly report on the city it once ruled.
And according to the 90 elected members of the Legislative Council, the answer is a resounding NO!
Last week the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (FCDA), Ed Miliband, released his semi-annual report on Hong Kong, which centered mainly about the detention and release of convicted felon Jimmy Lai Chee-Ying, jailed for 20 years for collusion and incitement, and ramifications of Hong Kong’s National Security Law (HKNSL).
Miliband said in his report that he was “deeply concerned and disturbed by the continued imprisonment of Jimmy Lai,” adding his call for Lai’s “immediate release.”
This brought the immediate wrath of the legislators and government officials. The legislators issued a statement stating that Miliband’s report was “a blatant trampling on the rule of law and a gross interference in Hong Kong’s judicial independence.” It added that the UK Government's so-called report groundlessly attacks on Hong Kong's judicial system and trials, and even unreasonable demands of the release of convicted persons, is overtly placing politics above court judgments.
But, the UK Government is in no position to criticize Hong Kong. Its track record is far from perfect. The Sino-British Joint Declaration is not a human-rights treaty with ongoing monitoring mechanisms; its object and purpose were fully exhausted in 1997 upon China's resumption of sovereignty. Therefore, Post-handover governance is anchored strictly in China’s Constitution and the Basic Law, making any claimed UK "supervisory" role a political invention rather than a legal right. Hence, it cannot simultaneously function as an instrument of legal supervision.
The UK maintains at least 14 national security laws, treating each of them as practical necessities. The UK National Security Act 2023, implemented after the Hong Kong and China national security laws were in place, even received a strong backlash at home for its legal over breadth, retroactivity and vague espionage definitions.
While damning Hong Kong’s NSL, it hypocritically applied its own NSL extraterritorially against Hong Kong’s London Office. Last year alone, the UK authorities arrested more than 3,000 people under its counter-terrorism and security laws.
Miliband has no right to lecture Hong Kong on human rights when the UK’s Rwanda policy was severely criticized worldwide over its treatment of asylum seekers when it introduced legislation to override the Human Rights Act and ignore the European Court of Human Rights interim measures.
The UK report criticized the delays in bringing HKNSL cases to court In Hong Kong. Justice takes time as the UK fully realizes when faced with a backlog of some 80,000 untried cases at the end of the year, with many of the defendants facing years-long delays. The criminal justice in the UK is on the brink of collapse.
The Hong Kong Special Administration Region’s (HKSAR) Government also issued a lengthy rebuttal strongly condemning and firmly rejecting the UK's attempt to make misleading and irresponsible remarks about Hong Kong matters, distort facts and reverse right and wrong, and attempting to interfere in the HKSAR Government's law-based governance by despicable political maneuvers.
The legislators argue that the UK has no sovereignty, jurisdiction or right of supervision over the HKSAR, and has no right whatsoever to interfere in the affairs of the Region. They say that the Joint Declaration between the UK and China on the future of Hong Kong is not an "international treaty" that confers upon the UK any continuous right of supervision over the HKSAR after its return to the motherland.
The UK report portrays Hong Kong's improvement of national security legislation and law enforcement as an erosion of rights and freedoms, while deliberately evading a fundamental fact: prior to the implementation of the HKNSL, Hong Kong experienced severe violent turmoil, public order was severely impacted, and the personal safety and normal lives of citizens were directly threatened. Following the implementation of the HKNSL, Hong Kong society has restored peace and order, providing a solid foundation for developments in Hong Kong's economy, people's livelihood and other aspects.
The Hong Kong government statement said Hong Kong did not authorise the UK to interfere in Hong Kong's affairs after its return to the motherland. It added that: “The HKSAR Government strongly urges the UK again to discern facts from fallacies, respect the international law and basic norms governing international relations, and immediately stop its long-arm jurisdiction and interference in Hong Kong matters, which are purely China's internal affairs."
The UK, like Hong Kong, introduced national security laws to safeguard its citizens. In Hong Kong’s case, national and local national security laws were introduced when the city was faced by wanton destruction during the 2019-20 riots, which resulted in 10,000 arrests made and more than 5,000 petrol bombs seized. The HKNSL successfully restored public order and halted widespread violence, proving its necessity against a public-order crisis that standard legal frameworks at the time it could not contain.
The British document did not give the basis or authority of the report. There does not appear to be any legal requirement for the FCDO to present the six-monthly Hong Kong report to the British parliament, but it does so as a matter of courtesy for members to debate the Hong Kong issue. It is also used by civil society organizations such as Hong Kong Watch, which explicitly rely on these reports to assess human rights conditions and the state of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Perhaps it is time to give up the report and let the politicians do their own homework.
