Foreign enterprises based in Hong Kong are “unsettled” about the vagueness of the Beijing-imposed national security law, and have difficulties trudging through the legislation, according to the president of the city’s American Chamber of Commerce.

Tara Joseph made the comments during a private forum held by the South China Morning Post on Tuesday, which covered topics including China affairs.

According to public broadcaster RTHK, Joseph said although the local business sector understood the rule of law was critical to Hong Kong’s stability, “many people would call [the security law] ambiguous.”

“Talks about foreign interference” made people feel uncomfortable, she reportedly said, adding that when foreign companies and their employees faced such a huge political change in the city, they needed extra time to explore the new law.

“Perhaps a closed-door discussion that’s very honest about how companies could face trouble, what could get individuals in trouble from the business community would be a very helpful discussion,” she added, “so that we can understand the rules of the road, because it’s a new road.”

Her suggestions came after the release of AmCham’s internal survey in May, which found that 42% of the members polled were considering or planning to leave Hong Kong.

Among the members planning for a departure, 3% indicated they want to leave Hong Kong immediately, while 10% said they would leave before the end of this summer. The result was “unprecedented,” Joseph said at the time.

American newspaper Wall Street Journal had earlier reported that due to the increased business uncertainty over the recent political turmoil and the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s suppression of the city, global firms were planning to move to Singapore or Shanghai, where they can directly benefit from the Chinese economy.

The city’s commerce chief Edward Yau, who attended the same forum, said that in the hope of clearing up any doubts, the government had answered many questions raised by the local business sector in a clear manner.

“If you read the daily news headlines you might have an impression that Hong Kong must be falling apart,” Yau said, according to RTHK. “But actually what brings businesses to Hong Kong or stay in Hong Kong is the baseline, it’s the baseline of the rule of law, including, in this circumstance the constitutional obligation we need to fulfill to protect the nation.”

“Also clearly spelled out are circumstances where there would be things that cannot be done legally within that remit,” he added.

Despite some people being worried about the implementation of the law, Hong Kong could still benefit from its rule of law system and attract capital and investors, said Laura Cha, chairperson of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

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