My latest comments on Beijing's efforts to nudge Hong Kong tycoons to do more

A well-written article by the Straits Times Hong Kong correspondent Magdalene Fung about the evolving relationship between Beijing and Hong Kong, in which I am quoted as saying: “These explicit messages from Beijing to Hong Kong’s tycoons add a fresh layer of complexity to the way that the city’s entrepreneurs may do business from now on, according to prominent China commentator Wang Xiangwei.
“Beijing’s intentions are good; but while this strategy of openly urging firms to invest tends to work in mainland China, it will be read differently in Hong Kong,” Mr Wang, a journalism professor at the Hong Kong Baptist University and former editor-in-chief at the South China Morning Post (SCMP), told The Straits Times.
“The Hong Kong tycoons and local businesses may see this kind of talk as an indirect form of political pressure, and so may have reservations about it.”
Back in July, I wrote a column suggesting that to boost the current lacklustre international investor enthusiasm for China, Beijing should first start by reigniting the investment interests of Hong Kong’s tycoons. https://lnkd.in/gvNE6_3t
But the top-down manner in which Beijing now appears to be going about it is not quite what I had envisioned.
Under the ‘one country, two systems’ framework, what Beijing believes is the right thing to do on the mainland, may not be right for Hong Kong.