Hong Kong stock exchange at risk due to China security crackdown

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index is under threat due to China's intention to pass a new national security legislation that could threaten the city's traditional freedoms, according to Tribeca's Jun Bei Liu. The Hang Seng Index (HSI) dropped nearly 5.6 per cent Friday after Beijing announced it will push ahead with its national security law. The law is widely drafted to cover any act "to split the country, subvert state power, organise and carry out terrorist activities and other behaviours that seriously endanger national security", according to Xinhua, China's state news agency. National security laws are routinely used on the Chinese mainland to jail critics of the ruling Communist Party. The draft legislation, presented at China's National People's Congress, which is meeting this week in Beijing, also specifies that China's national security bodies - the Ministry of State Security (MSS) and the Ministry of the Public Security (MPS) - can set up "agencies" in Hong Kong to safeguard the law - effectively bringing an end to Hong Kong's rule of law. Ms Liu there has been "quite a lot of sell offs" happening due to escalating tensions in Hong Kong. "Investors are cautious but I wouldn't say they are panicked yet," she said. "Look, Hong Kong stock exchange has gone through significant uncertainties in the last 12, 18 months, they simply moves from the escalating riots and then moved to the coronavirus... it is a very difficult time for that region." Via news.com.au — Australia’s #1 news site https://www.news.com.au