US businesses ‘fear Internet curbs in Hong Kong’

HONG KONG: US businesses in Hong Kong fear mainland Chinese Internet curbs and want local authorities to commit to the free flow of information, the head of the city’s American Chamber of commerce said on Monday.

Hong Kong has long marketed itself as an international business centre, free from China’s controls and the “Great Firewall” used to censor online content.

The latest measure to worry business owners is a proposed privacy law that will hold international tech companies and their employees criminally liable for illegal content that users post.

Tara Joseph, President of the local American Chamber of Commerce, said the government needed to address the business community’s concerns.

“One of the key attributes of Hong Kong is that you can go onto Google, you can go onto Facebook and any other platform you want versus what you can do in mainland China’’, she told Bloomberg Television.

“So I do think it’s important for the government to recognise that and to be open and say we’re going to maintain that free flow of information.” On Friday, the United States issued a rare advisory, warning businesses of the “growing risks” of operating in Hong Kong as China clamps down there. The advisory highlighted concerns about data privacy, transparency and access to critical business information, as well as the risk of breaching US sanctions against Chinese officials and entities.

“It’s unusual for the US government to put out a business advisory, so something like that has shaken awake anyone who wasn’t aware of the changes or the new normal that we’re experiencing in Hong Kong’’, Joseph said.

Businesses in Hong Kong were adapting to legal and political changes in the city, she added. “But there are increased risks’’, she said.