HSBC Asia-Pacific Chief Executive Peter Wong on Wednesday signed on to a petition announcing support of a controversial national security law on Hong Kong that has recently been approved by China’s legislature.
The show of support marks the most significant backing by a major global bank that Beijing has received for the legislation yet.
In a social media post, Mr. Wong said the bank “respects and supports all laws that stabilize Hong Kong’s social order.”
China last week moved forward with the law on Hong Kong that would allow Chinese intelligence and security forces to be based inside the district for the first time, and seeks to address terrorism, secession and foreign interference in the city.
Critics of the legislation, which include the U.S. and U.K., have claimed that it will erode Hong Kong’s freedoms granted under a 1997 treaty between Britain and China that bound Beijing’s communist rulers to respect Hong Kong’s autonomy as a special administrative region and to leave its liberal economy and government for 50 years under the formulation “one country, two systems.”
Pro-Beijing lawmakers, meanwhile, have insisted that the law will not impact the autonomy granted to the city under the pact.
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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