Karishma Vaswani, Columnist

The Chinese Transformation of Hong Kong Is Almost Complete

The city says it needs to push through a planned security law to make the financial hub safe and attract investors. More control is not the answer.

January 31, 2024 at 2:01 AM UTC

By Karishma Vaswani

Karishma Vaswani is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia politics with a special focus on China. Previously, she was the BBC's lead Asia presenter and worked for the BBC across Asia and South Asia for two decades.

More control.
Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Hong Kong was once one of the world’s most storied international centers. With the planned proposals for a new security law, the government is transforming it into yet another mainland Chinese city, with even more control exerted from Beijing. This will not just be bad for business, but also for the financial hub’s global reputation.

Watching Chief Executive John Lee deliver his press briefing on the public consultation of Article 23 was an exercise in surrealism. He consistently put forward the idea that the city needs this on top of the National Security Law, which was passed in 2020 by China’s top legislative body, and endorsed by President Xi Jinping without public debate. At the time, Beijing said the measures were intended to bring calm back to Hong Kong’s streets, which had been rocked by pro-democracy protests. In reality, it was about control. The Hong Kong government is making similar arguments for its new law, saying it is intended to keep the financial hub safe and attract investors. It is yet another poor attempt at justifying even further restraints.