China
Anniversary in Hong Kong + Criminal managers exploit zero-Covid
Dear reader,
Hong Kong used to be a popular destination for companies, tourists and residents of the People's Republic who wanted to breathe some air of freedom. Today, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China, we do not have a lot of good news to report about the situation in the southern Chinese metropolis. This is because the new Chief Executive John Lee also will take office on July 1. Their predecessors were already strictly in line with Beijing. On Top of that, Lee, as a former man of the law, now brings with him the scent of a police state, writes Marcel Grzanna.
In the long term, the dissolution of the rule of law poses a major problem for the local German economy, but in the short term - and in very practical terms - the Covid lockdown weighs more heavily. Our team of correspondents has tracked down cases in which local management has cut itself off loose and company money has disappeared. In such cases, headquarters only realized far too late what was happening. After all, no one was able to check up on the situation on-site for months. So the unease at the Hong Kong location is growing. Not all that long ago, Hong Kong was one of the most business-friendly cities in the world.
Despite all this, the Empire's withdrawal from Asia remains in itself an anniversary, a day for celebration. The British were colonialists who forcibly seized the territory in southern China and then ruled it undemocratically for 155 years. It is only the contrast that makes the colonial period appear in a good light today. While the British at least upheld a minimum rule of law and freedom of expression, the Hong Kong of today falls short even of these basic standards of civil rights.
