U.S.-China stress are bad for Hong Kong, stated the city’s secretary for commerce and financial advancement, as he advised everybody to acknowledge that the “common enemy” of the world is the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are … seeing U.S.-China tensions mounting, which is unhelpful to Hong Kong, and also to the trade between U.S. and China. But as we are fighting the pandemic, I think the last thing one would want is a further distraction that would disturb or disrupt the trade,” Edward Yau informed CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
He indicated the “economic scorecard across the Pacific,” which reveals a “very strong” connection in between how well a nation has actually included the break out versus its financial efficiency. He mentioned China as an example, where its economy was amongst the earliest to recuperate, after being the very first hit in the pandemic.
We should acknowledge that the typical opponent … for the whole world … is the pandemic, is the infection, not each other.
Edward Yau
Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and financial advancement
But some other economies in the area have actually been struck by double-digit development decreases. Hong Kong’s development slowed to an “unprecedented” 9% decrease in the 2nd quarter, Yau stated. The city’s economy has actually been pounded on a couple of fronts: pro-democracy demonstrations, which injured organisations and tourist severely, and now the coronavirus. The city saw a flare-up in cases once again just recently, causing limitations being reimposed.
“If we are not able to contain Covid-19 individually and collectively, I think we are all bearing the toll. So either way, I’m saying that well, perhaps the economic tsunami arising from the Covid-19 … I think that’s something that we have to watch, in particular for Hong Kong being so internationalized, so intertwined with our trade with the globe,” Yau stated. “I think we’re highly conscious that well, we should be taking every step to combat Covid-19, and also to ease any tensions which (are) unnecessary and unwarranted.”
Pedestrians using protective masks stroll throughout a roadway in Hong Kong, China, on Friday, July 10, 2020.
Roy Liu | Bloomberg |Â Getty Images
The relationship in between Washington and Beijing has actually intensified this year, as both nations squabble over a series of concerns from the origins of the pandemic, to a questionable nationwide security law and China’s claims of ownership in the South China Sea.
Hong Kong has actually been captured up in the quarrel. After Beijing enforced the nationwide security law on Hong Kong, Washington stated it would withdraw the city’s unique trading status with the U.S. That has actually raised worries that Hong Kong’s status as a monetary center might be worn down.
Additionally, the U.S. federal government revealed recently that items made in the city and exported to the U.S. will require to be identified as made in China rather of Hong Kong after Sept. 25.
When inquired about that advancement, Yau described World Trade Organization guidelines which specify that Hong Kong is entitled to utilize its own labeling for its exports, including that it will “take the matter up with the U.S.”
“We must recognize that the common enemy … for the entire world … is the pandemic, is the virus, not each other,” he stated. “Unfortunately I think we are being dragged into the tensions on the geopolitical basis. But of course Hong Kong will soldier on.”
