New crimes come into force on Saturday, including treason, sabotage, sedition, theft of state secrets, external interference and espionage

Western businesses in Hong Kong face growing uncertainty after politicians passed draconian new national security laws that will align the city-state even more closely with Beijing.

Hong Kong’s Legislative Assembly passed a major piece of legislation known as Article 23 on Tuesday, marking the latest stage of a widespread political crackdown triggered by pro-democracy protests in 2019.

  • @nucleativeEnglish
    4•8 months ago

    Hong Kong used to be the place that Western businesses would go to transact with mainland.

    Because of the British style common law court system, western businesses felt they could rely on the contracts and deals they signed with Hong Kong and mainland suppliers.

    Now, it’s not so clear. Setting up a business in Hong Kong no longer has the advantages it used to have. It has become incredibly difficult to open a bank account as a non resident due to extraneous scrutiny, for example.

    It also seems like now, more than ever, your business and your employees better not voice the wrong opinion about the wrong topic or else risk everything invested in Hong Kong.