National security law: could Japan or South Korea take Hong Kong’s finance crown?

Japan and South Korea want to tempt businesses considering an exit strategy in the wake of Beijing’s national security law for Hong Kong

But Tokyo’s high tax levels and South Korea’s complex regulations are hard to overlook, especially when compared to competitors such as Singapore

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Clouds gather over the Hong Kong skyline. Photo: EPA

Published: 7:00am, 27 Jun 2020Updated: 5:25pm, 29 Jun 2020

Japan and South Korea are working to boost their attractiveness to Hong Kong firms considering contingency plans as China moves to introduce a national security law in the run-up to the 23rd anniversary of the former colony’s return to Chinese rule on July 1.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress is expected to meet on Sunday to further discuss the law – which targets secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign and external forces endangering national security.

Details of the law, and the offences that constitute crimes, are still unclear. and this has raised fears that Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms, which have been crucial to its success as a financial hub, will be undermined. Beijing, however, maintains the new law will restore stability to a city wracked by a year of anti-government protests that on several occasions descended into violence.

Foreign firms have been looking into possible exit strategies in the event the law ends up restricting the free flow of information in the city or affects their ability to woo talent.