Thread by @joshuawongcf

[#Nationsecuritylaw changes business-political nexus]

1. Excellent story by @TheEconomist with insights on how #NSL imperils #HK’s business environment, impartiality and gov role, while #Beijing claims the law will not affect business confidence.

economist.com/china/2020/07/…

2. Once Beijing introduces a security agency in HK with a mechanism that encourages people to snitch each other, it completely undermines the city's impartiality as a commercial arbitration centre in the region, especially when business dispute involve clients from China.

3. Don't forget the law covers expats and foreign institutions and criminalizes “invoking hatreds towards governments” and “leaking national security-related information”.

4. While supporting democracy movt in Hong Kong online and documenting censored articles could be sentenced to imprisonment, what tech companies fear most is how the law will affect them. But #HKgov fails to reassure firms, as it clearly has no idea how #China will use the law.

//The Economist asked the commerce secretary, Edward Yau, what measures would be taken against the media under the security law. He offered no details. Perhaps local officials are as much in the dark about the central government’s specific intentions as anyone.//

//For the long term, the security law introduces a new and potentially ominous dimension into the business-political nexus. Under it, Luo Huining, the head of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong has been appointed as commissar to “advise” on national security.//

//Mr Luo is one of China’s most powerful men. Carrie Lam, the chief executive, is fast becoming just another small-town mayor//