Hong Kong is eager to show the world that the city is open for business after years of pandemic restrictions. Officials this week were even willing to bend some rules for visitors — as long as they could afford it.
Bankers in town for the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit were told they could skip the mandatory quarantine and take off on a private jet if they tested positive for Covid. Tech executives attending Fintech Week from abroad were allowed to dine in private rooms, despite a rule banning visitors from eating out during their first three days in the city. Spectators at the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament this weekend can eat in the stands after the rules are relaxed.
These three exciting events – the first in three years involving international guests – were meant to show that Hong Kong was still worthy of the self-proclaimed title of ‘Asia’s World City’. But the privileges being handed out to a few have compounded the challenges the former British colony faces as it tries to strike a balance between mounting demands from Beijing, which has the final say on Hong Kong’s Covid policy, and an international community determined to overcome the pandemic. .
“We were, are and remain one of the world’s leading financial centers. And you can take that to the bank,” Hong Kong leader John Lee told executives on Wednesday, including those at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan. (Mr. Lee, who usually wears a mask at press conferences, took his off for the speech.)
Hong Kong has struggled to break free from Beijing’s ruthless “zero-covid” policy and to restore a global reputation hurt by a widespread crackdown on pro-democracy protests. US lawmakers called on bankers to boycott the investment summit, saying attending it would be “laundering” China’s authoritarian hold on the once semi-autonomous area.
For residents who have endured some tough years of Covid regulations, the loopholes and exceptions given to visiting executives are stinging. “If the rules are to be fair, it should be done at all levels of society, and if you think it’s hard to keep these peaks, then just open Hong Kong,” said Virginia Chan, the owner of Humid with a Chance of Fish Balls Tours.
Like many business owners in the city, Ms Chan’s result has been devastated by the severe Covid restrictions. Her company organized 60 group trips per month. Now she’s thankful that she’s had three so far this month.
Few would argue that the city needs an economic shock. Citywide pro-democracy protests drove off tourists in 2019. Then Covid-19 restrictions blocked non-residents out of the city for two years. Prolonged mandatory hotel quarantines caused an exodus of professional workers, many of whom moved to rival cities, such as Singapore.
As the economy heads into recession, thousands of small businesses have closed, causing many people to lose their jobs.
Officials took a big step toward reopening in September when they jettisoned the hotel’s quarantine requirements. But many say the new approach has made little difference, as there are still some limitations. Travelers are banned from visiting restaurants, bars and many other businesses for three days after arrival and must undergo health monitoring for a week.
“No tourists come in,” said Eric Lee, the owner of a souvenir shop that sells retro toy cars and snacks. The revenues of his nearly ten-year-old company, Hong Kong Tram Store, have fallen by as much as 70 percent in the past two years. “Will tourists have the patience to scan QR codes here and there?” he asked, referring to a cumbersome smartphone app required for visitors.
“You don’t have to do these things in other places,” he said. “And what about masks?”
Some of those little things were scrapped for financial executives to convince them to visit the city this week. Even the city’s financial secretary, Paul Chan, appeared to have been given a pass when he returned to the city after testing positive for Covid abroad. He also tested positive on arrival, but was allowed to skip the quarantine to attend events where he left his mask for important speeches.
Mr Chan told reporters that health officials were treating his case like any other. “There is no special privilege at all,” he said.
Despite the special dispensation for VIPs, many refused to visit Hong Kong. Officials said 12,000 people had signed up for Fintech, just over half of the 20,000 attendees expected by organizers.
Some of the biggest names on the guest list for the financial summit — including Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, Blackstone’s Jonathan Gray and Capital Group’s Timothy Armor — declined to attend. Five executives canceled at the last minute, four with Covid-19 or virus-like symptoms.
The bankers who did visit Hong Kong this week usually limited their stay to just a few days, attended a private dinner at M+, a new contemporary art museum, and met employees for the first time in more than two years.
Although US lawmakers and advocacy groups had discouraged bankers from attending, officials in Beijing and Hong Kong showered executives with praise.
“Your presence today is a boisterous exclamation point to this welcome meeting,” Hong Kong’s leader Mr Lee told bankers on Wednesday. The state-controlled Chinese media proclaimed the summit as a sign of Hong Kong’s return as a global city.
A Chinese regulator, Fang Xinghai, urged visiting bankers not to read international media coverage of his country. During a panel discussion with the heads of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, UBS chairman Colm Kelleher assured the public that “we are all very pro-China”.
Still, it has been impossible to protect the executives from the ways Hong Kong is trying to abide by some of Beijing’s Covid policies. Outside the ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel where the financial summit was held, a sign prominently pointed to the “PCR Test Center,” a key requirement that even VIPs couldn’t get out of.
In their bid to keep more visitors coming back, city officials also amended Covid rules for the Rugby Sevens tournament, Hong Kong’s top sporting event.
Initially, officials said no food could be consumed in the stands, but then they turned to say a small amount would be allowed, although masks were still required. Raphaël Seghin, who traveled to Hong Kong on Tuesday and hoped to attend the tournament, said he was not sure what rules still apply.
Mr Seghin had already received two doses of a Covid vaccine when he booked his flight from Marseille, France, where he runs a soap factory. When he later learned that most locals needed three shots to enter restaurants and other venues, he rushed to get a booster before flying away, only to find it wouldn’t be valid until 14 days later. “I was stressed the whole ride,” he said, although he found the testing procedures efficient after arrival.
Mr Seghin, 37, grew up in Hong Kong and returned to the city to renew his permanent residence permit.
“I now live in a world where Covid is not a part of most people’s concerns on a daily basis,” Seghin said. “When you come here, it’s central to everything you do.”
