Free Republic

CommentaryIf the “Hong Kong security law” couldn’t crater Hong Kong’s financial services industry, perhaps its “zero-COVID” policy could?That’s what the Chinese city is grappling with, as expats within its financial services sector head for the exits due to the city’s draconian quarantine, lockdowns, and restrictions to combat the ongoing CCP virus epidemic.Hong Kong has kept up restrictive quarantines along with strict entry rules since 2020, even as other financial markets in Asia open up. Returning residents from most locations must quarantine for up to three weeks regardless of vaccination status. The punishing three-week quarantine was only recently lowered to two...

(Author Joe Hoft lived in Hong Kong for nearly a decade and provides this first hand perspective)China took control of Hong Kong, the former British colony, in 1997. Ever since that time, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the small group that runs China, has attempted to control the tiny country. This has escalated over the past year. The CCP agreed to a 50-year plan to take over the country of Hong Kong in 1997 after the takeover. However, this may never have been the CCP’s intent. Now after less than 25 years, the CCP is hammering Hong Kong into...