By Li Ping

The bank accounts of former LegCo member Ted Hui and his family were frozen, unfrozen, and refrozen, showing that local banks have lost their autonomy and ability to protect the interests of their customers under political pressure, a further shock to Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center. However, Financial Secretary Paul Chan claimed yesterday that Hong Kong’s status as a financial center is still as securely rooted as Mount Tai. This is simply not seeing the woods for the trees, let alone Mount Tai. It also shows that the Chinese Communists and Hong Kong Commies have no regards for Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center, and are even dreaming of replacing Hong Kong with mainland cities.

The freezing of the bank accounts of Ted Hui and his family is both about the government’s law enforcement by association, as well as the credibility of the bank. Bank operations must comply with local laws and regulations, but that is neither an excuse for disregarding the interests of customers and meeting political requirements, nor an excuse for being vague and concealing the real reason for freezing accounts. According to Li Kwai-wah, senior superintendent of police of Hong Kong’s National Security Department, the freezing of the accounts of the persons involved has nothing to do with the National Security Law or his ‘exile”. One big fat lie after another. If it has nothing to do with national security, why did someone like Li have to come out in person to announce the freezing of the bank accounts of Ted Hui and his family, and accuse him of “colluding with foreign forces”? Such blatant lies through his teeth are to downplay the horror of the national security law, while concealing the impact of the national security law on Hong Kong’s financial system.

What’s particularly disconcerting is that Paul Chan, as the Financial Secretary, turned a blind eye to the impact on Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center, and even claimed that since experience last year’s social movements, epidemic, and sanctions, Hong Kong’s status as a financial center and financial system remain as stable and rooted as Mount Tai. The high-level management of banks have taken sides in the political dispute, and the banks have cooperated with the SAR government in its suppression of protesters. They have, in fact, been reduced to a ruling tool of the authoritarian regime. Once sanctioned by the U.S., or even triggered the most severe penalties of banning the use of the U.S. dollar in settling transactions, Hong Kong being a financial center, and its financial system will immediately collapse. And they are still kidding themselves that Hong Kong is still secure as Mount Tai?

Carrie Lam boasts her large stash of cash at home. Teresa Cheng, Chris Tang, Edwina Lau, and Li Kwai-wah were suggested to have become “suddenly rich” by online media as they were able to pay off their mortgage. It reflects that not only are they proud of the impact of the sanctions on their personal lives, but also that Hong Kong’s banking system is being dragged down by them. Chinese Communists and Hong Kong Commies do not care if the “patriots” are sanctioned and have to change their lifestyle, nor do they worry about Hong Kong losing its international financial center status. It is because they are determined that mainland cities will replace Hong Kong. From the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, Shanghai Pudong New Area, Tianjin Binhai New Area, all the way to Heibei Xiong’an New District and Hainan Free Trade Port, which of those has not attempted to build an international financial center?

In the eyes of the Chinese Communists and Hong Kong Commies, Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center is perhaps no different from an independent customs territory, which was granted by the CCP and must service the CCP. In as early as March 2009, the State Council approved Shanghai’s accelerated development plan, and proposed that by 2020, Shanghai will be built into an international financial center compatible with China’s economic strength and the international status of the RMB, and an international shipping hub with global shipping resource allocation capabilities. 2020 will soon be a thing of the past. Xi Jinping has announced that he will complete according to schedule the poverty alleviation task and eliminate absolute poverty and overall regional poverty, but will he dare to declare that Shanghai has been made into an international financial center?

Earlier, Paul Chan has already redefined Hong Kong’s role as an international financial center, which is “contributing to the making of a high-quality Greater Bay Area.” If one’s gaze is towards the north, how would one still care about the perception of the international community? Ted Hui is in exile abroad. The Chinese Communists and Hong Kong Commies take it out on his bank accounts, and those of his family by association. They only seek people who obey, and to eradicate those who do not. How would they care that such an act of ransacking by association would hurt Hong Kong’s personal and property safety, and send a huge shockwave through Hong Kong’s position as a financial center?

On the contrary, those who are really concerned about Hong Kong’s financial hub status are not only the financial sector that is directly benefited, but the ordinary citizens who are not directly benefited. People who use banking services and buy and sell stocks and foreign exchanges are not so much concerned about whether Hong Kong is an international financial center as to whether the pillars of the international financial center, including the rule of law, freedom, and the inviolability of private property rights are in danger of collapsing. Moreover, they are also concerned about whether Hong Kong’s core values will be destroyed alongside its status as a financial hub. The autocratic rule of the Chinese Communist and Hong Kong Commies have unscrupulously undermined Hong Kong’s rule of law and freedoms. The status as a financial hub is but one part of the process or a side effect. Why would they give a damn?

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