I am sure the Chinese can print more currency.
“I am sure the Chinese can print more currency.”
The Mainland can print a lot more of their Monopoly money (Yuan/Renminbi) - but nobody will accept that as payment for the main things they need to buy from outside of China; like oil, gas, raw materials or food.
The Hong Kong dollar is a freely convertible currency (unlike the ChiCom wampum). It has been real money - hard currency , pegged to the US Dollar. It has been the ChiCom’s main access to real hard currency.
ATMs running out of cash are just a symptom of accelerated capital flight from HK. The bigger money must find other ways out. But it could well signal that a stampede is on by the population to get out whatever real wealth they can. If the Hong Kong Monetary Authority runs out of real hard foreign reserves (they have been heading that way fast), then the Hong Kong Dollar could collapse, and they might be forced to adopt the Mainland’s currency.
That would probably mean that the Mainland would be heading toward its own foreign reserve crisis sometime later - maybe not long. Hong Kong is the goose that laid the golden eggs for the ChiComs. It looks like it is about to get cooked.