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A Chinese junk sails across Victoria Harbor to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Monday, June 27, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A man walks past a banner to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Thursday, June 23, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
Chinese and Hong Kong flags are hanged to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Thursday, June 23, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A woman walks past a banner to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
An installation is displayed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Thursday, June 23, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A giant lantern decorations is displayed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Monday, June 27, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A resident walks besides the Chinese and Hong Kong flags hanging from a residential building to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, at a public housing estate, in Hong Kong, Saturday, June 25, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
Light installations with Chinese and Hong Kong flags are displayed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Thursday, June 23, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A woman walks past a sculpture to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Friday, June 24, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A worker waters flowers decoration to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Monday, June 27, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
HONG KONG (AP) — Every few generations, Hong Kong transforms itself, evolving from a swampy fishing village to 19th century colonial port, to capitalist outpost and factory after China’s 1949 revolution, to 21st century financial center.
As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again. They say the city should become a leader in technology that relies more on its ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
Chief Executive-elect John Lee’s government is under pressure to generate new sources of economic growth, looking beyond COVID outbreaks and anti-virus controls that have devastated tourism and business and uncertainty about the legal climate after a crackdown on the city's pro-democracy movement.
In April, during his election campaign, Lee promised to “start a new chapter” for the city better known as one of Asia's busiest ports and biggest stock markets and “strengthen its competitiveness” in technology and innovation as well as trade and finance.
Lee gave no details but pointed to the Greater Bay Area, a Chinese government initiative to link Hong Kong with neighboring mainland cities including the technology and finance hub of Shenzhen and the manufacturing powerhouses of Dongguan and Foshan.
“There are great opportunities in the Greater Bay Area that haven’t been realized yet,” said David Graham, executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. “It is a big opportunity for Hong Kong, and it will be very hard to replicate in other cities like Singapore or Dubai.”
Adding to the urgency for Lee to roll out a long-term strategy, executives frustrated with Hong Kong’s travel controls are leaving the city, business groups say. Some companies are moving for good to Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai or other business centers.
“Hong Kong’s strength as a global connector has been greatly reduced,” said Joseph Armas, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Executives have left for cities where “travel is feasible.”
Armas appealed to Lee for a “concrete roadmap” to revive Hong Kong, which remains, together with mainland China and Taiwan, one of the few places that still requires inbound travelers to serve mandatory quarantines.
For Michael Chan, who manages a fashion goods manufacturing business, the restrictions have extended what used to be one-week trips to factories in Bangladesh or China to a month or two, since it makes no sense to spend weeks in quarantine for a short work trip.
Chan has considered temporarily relocating to Singapore, whose controls are much less strict.
“When I meet government officials, I often have to meet them face to face and talk about things," said Chan, a veteran of multiple quarantines. “It's not like in the U.S. where I can just use Zoom for a video call.”
Hong Kong lost nearly 90,000 of its 7.5 million population in 2021, according to government figures. More than 100,000 people left in February and March of this year, during the city’s worst COVID wave.
The angst over Hong Kong’s travel controls “presents an opportunity for others to dip into our talent pool,” said Sally Wong, CEO of the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association.
Activists and foreign governments complain the ruling Communist Party is chipping away at the 50 years of autonomy Beijing promised after 1997. The freedoms afforded to Hong Kong and its leeway for self-governance had helped it keep its status as a center for Asian headquarters of global companies even as rent and other costs soared to record levels and levels of inequality grew ever wider.
Hong Kong still has a skilled workforce, an efficient port and a Western-style legal system considered to be impartial and reliable.
But its status as a global hub for trade and business center is waning.
One in 20 companies surveyed by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong plan to move their global or regional headquarters out of Hong Kong, the chamber reported in January. It said half were uncertain about whether to go.
Some businesses are watching to see how law enforcement and the free flow of information and people that are crucial to commerce and finance might change. Two out of five companies surveyed said they worry they will lose free internet access, vital for a trading center that relies on the flow of information.
“There is a perception that foreign businesses are less welcome,” the report said. “More than half our respondents feel the government is ‘unconcerned’ or ‘dismissive’ about business concerns.”
Until now, Hong Kong has been largely free of the censorship on the mainland, where internet barriers known as the “Great Firewall” are used by the ruling party to block China’s public from seeing foreign websites run by news outfits, governments and human rights activists. But the territory’s leading pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, was shut down during the crackdown and its publisher, Jimmy Lai, sentenced to prison.
Kurt Tong, a former U.S. consul general in Hong Kong who is managing partner of The Asia Group, a consulting firm, said that so far the city's national security law, though used to stifle dissent, has not had much impact on business and finance.
But the effect of the law and Beijing's overhaul of the territory's political system bear watching, he said.
“People who care about the Hong Kong financial system need to think about that,” Tong said.
Hong Kong thrived as the trade gateway to China for decades, but it was eclipsed as the world's busiest container port in 2000 by facilities in the Chinese mainland. Two decades later, with cargo volume barely 10% above its 2000 level, Hong Kong's port ranks 8th in the world. Shanghai, Shenzhen and three other Chinese ports are bigger.
Hong Kong’s stock market, once Asia’s biggest outside Japan, also has grown steadily but has slipped behind regional rivals.
Companies traded in Hong Kong have a total market value of $5.4 trillion, compared with $8.2 trillion for the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Companies on China’s second exchange in Shenzhen are worth $6.2 trillion, according to the World Federation of Exchanges.
Tong is among those who believe Hong Kong's recent setbacks are only temporary.
“The current status is that Hong Kong is a very significant global center, one of the most important in the world, and it plays a unique and critical role in linking the Chinese economy with the rest of the global economy and channeling finance in both directions,” said Tong.
The city is meanwhile nurturing its role as a center for innovation, setting up research centers that have helped incubate dozens of start-up companies.
A vice chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Rocky S. Tuan, pointed to medical and biotechnology research as one of the city’s less well-known strengths. Writing in the newspaper South China Morning Post, he said “Hong Kong offers access to capital, expertise, global regulatory recognition of its clinical trial data and a network of world-class universities.”
That could lend the city an edge over regional rivals.
“Other cities in the region, notably Singapore, perhaps will be more of an Asia hub or Southeast Asia hub,” said Tommy Wu of Oxford Economics. “Hong Kong’s business will be mainly focused on Greater China.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Amazon's Alexa might soon mimic the voices of family members, even if they're dead. The capability, unveiled at a Vegas conference, is in development.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
People with hearing loss have long adopted technology to navigate the world, especially since hearing aids are expensive and inaccessible to many. Over the past several years, new options have exploded. Captions from apps like Otter have proven critical for people who needed to join online meetings, or even talk in person, especially when mask-wearing muffled speech during the pandemic. For others, captions have served as a helpful backstop. They are spreading beyond television to videoconferencing apps like Zoom, streaming services like Netflix, social media video on TikTok and YouTube, movie theaters and live arts venues and, of course, personal communications.
Ukraine will start trading electricity with neighboring European countries later this week. The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity said on Tuesday that the first phase of commercial exchanges is set to begin on June 30 following the synchronization of power systems in March. Ukraine and Moldova were previously part of the Integrated Power System that also includes Russia and Belarus. This made Ukraine dependent on Russia’s grid operator despite there having been no electricity trade between the two countries for years.
One of Iran’s major steel companies says it was forced to halt production after being hit by a cyberattack that also targeted two other plants, marking one of the biggest assaults on the country’s strategic industrial sector in recent memory. The Iranian government did not acknowledge the disruption or blame any specific group for the assault on the state-owned Khuzestan Steel Co. and Iran’s two other major steel producers — the latest example of an attack crippling the country’s services in recent months amid heightened tensions in the region. But an anonymous hacking group on Monday claimed responsibility on social media, saying it targeted Iran’s major steel companies in response to the “aggression of the Islamic Republic.”
With record-high gas prices, travelers can save money on summer road trips by considering alternatives. They can plan a trip to U.S. regions with lower-cost fuel, like the Midwest or South. If travelers need to rent a car, they might find affordable options by going to a cheaper car rental location or considering a car rental alternative like car sharing. With more hotels offering electric vehicle charging, renting an electric car could be more convenient and less expensive than expected. No matter what car or region, spending on a rewards credit card, particularly one that earns extra points on gas, could help lessen the sting of road trip expenses.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has celebrated the opening of the country’s longest bridge, which took eight years to build amid setbacks involving political conflict and corruption allegations. The 4-mile bridge spanning the Padma River cost an estimated $3.6 billion and was paid for with domestic funds after the World Bank and other global lending agencies declined to finance the project. The bridge, which will open to the public on Sunday, will slash the distance between the capital Dhaka and Bangladesh’s second largest seaport, Mongla, by 62 miles. Economists say the bridge will increase Bangladesh’s gross domestic product by an additional 1.3% per year. The World Bank withheld funding but in 2017, a Canadian court threw out corruption charges against three executives.
Microsoft says “strategic espionage” by state-backed Russian hackers has targeted government agencies, think tanks, businesses and aid groups in 42 countries supporting Ukraine. Microsoft says in a report that hacking has been successful 29% of the time and that data was stolen in at least one-quarter of the successful network intrusions, Nearly two-thirds of the cyberespionage targets involved NATO members. The United States was the prime target. Poland, which is the main conduit for military assistance flowing to Ukraine, was No. 2. In the past two months, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Turkey have seen stepped-up targeting,
Michigan lawmakers have approved a $101 million package as they try to encourage large companies to invest and create jobs in the state. Ford in return has promised to invest $1.14 billion in five production plants throughout the state and create over 3,000 jobs. The tax-funded incentive will be paid in increments and is contingent on Ford hitting promised employment targets. The incentive package comes just weeks after Ford announced plans to add 6,300 new jobs in the Midwest and invest $3.7 billion in manufacturing facilities across Michigan, Ohio and Missouri.
The fate of hard-nosed technology executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani is now in the hands of a jury that will weigh criminal charges alleging he joined disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, his former partner, in an elaborate fraud that jarred Silicon Valley. Jury members finally get their chance to pore over the evidence submitted during a three-month trial after federal prosecutors on Friday finished a rebuttal to more than 11 hours of closing arguments methodically laid out by a lawyer defending Balwani. A separate jury spent seven days deliberating before convicting Holmes on four counts of investor fraud and conspiracy earlier this year.
A Chinese junk sails across Victoria Harbor to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Monday, June 27, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A man walks past a banner to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Thursday, June 23, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
Chinese and Hong Kong flags are hanged to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Thursday, June 23, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A woman walks past a banner to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
An installation is displayed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Thursday, June 23, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A giant lantern decorations is displayed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Monday, June 27, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A resident walks besides the Chinese and Hong Kong flags hanging from a residential building to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, at a public housing estate, in Hong Kong, Saturday, June 25, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
Light installations with Chinese and Hong Kong flags are displayed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Thursday, June 23, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A woman walks past a sculpture to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Friday, June 24, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.
A worker waters flowers decoration to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China, in Hong Kong, Monday, June 27, 2022. As the former British colony marks the 25th anniversary of its return to China, reeling from pandemic curbs that devastated business and a crackdown on its pro-democracy movement, Hong Kong leaders say it is time to transform again and become a tech center that relies more on ties with nearby Chinese factory cities than on global trade.