Hong Kong has been living on borrowed time ever since the British made it a colony nearly 180 years ago, and all the more so after Beijing took control in 1997 and granted it autonomous status. China’s passage of a national security law for the city is the latest sign that the 50-year “one country,
BANGKOK — Hong Kong has been living on borrowed time ever since the British made it a colony nearly 180 years ago, and all the more so after Beijing took control in 1997 and granted it autonomous status.
In the early 1980s, as China's own economy began to open up to trade and investment after decades of Cold War isolation and political upheaval, the contrast between the mainland and Hong Kong was evident on crossing the border into the bucolic rice paddies and fish ponds of Shenzhen. The rise of industrial and financial centers like Shenzhen and Shanghai has sidelined Hong Kong in other respects. The city accounts for less than 3% of China's economic activity, down from a peak of 27% in 1993, the height of its role as go-between in China's ascent as an export powerhouse.
“The most frightening thing is that you will never be able to know exactly what would cross the bottom line for the Chinese Communist Party, or even where that bottom line is. No one knows," said Philip Chan, who was walking in downtown Hong Kong's Central district under the watchful eyes of masses of police in riot gear, a common sight nowadays.
Billionaire Li Ka-shing, whose fortune has taken a hit over the past year as Hong Kong's economy stumbled, told local media that he viewed Beijing's moves as its “sovereign right." He and his peers have voiced support for the security legislation, saying they hope it will help ensure public order. The city was the world's second-biggest port after Singapore in 2005 and now is the eighth-largest: Shanghai is by far the biggest and its throughput has doubled during that time while Hong Kong's has fallen.
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