Researcher: Hong kong's fate is in Trumps hands after the new law

Hong kong's status as a global commercial centre hangs in a thin thread - not at least according to China's National people's congress on Wednesday approved a controversial sikkerhedslov of the territory.

It takes Clemens Stubbe Østergaard, who is a senior fellow at the Nordic Institute of asian studies at Copenhagen University.

With the new sikkerhedslov risk of Hong kong namely, to lose its unique position, among other things, over for the UNITED states, which is critical of chinese influence.

- It looks bad for Hong kong's existence as a bridge between the rest of the financial and economic system and China, said Clemens Stubbe Østergaard.

- It has been ideal for many foreign companies and banks to be in Hong kong. If you revoke the special status, many of them could just as well be lying in a well-functioning, peaceful and stable Singapore or Shanghai, he adds.

Hong kong has the past year been plagued by violent demonstrations and civil unrest.

It is according to Clemens Stubbe Østergaard already taken a heavy toll on Hong kong's attractiveness to foreign banks and companies.

With the prospect of a new sikkerhedslov pushed, according to the researcher, to an already-leaning wagon in Hong kong.

the UNITED states secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has already notified the us congress that Hong kong is no longer entitled to the special treatment, as the territory has been of the UNITED states since 1997.

Hong kong enjoys today among other things, discrimination in connection with customs duties, foreign exchange, visas and sanktionstiltag.

It will, however, president of the UNITED states, Donald Trump, that may eventually pull the rug out from under Hong kong.

- It is, admittedly, Mike Pompeo, who has presented the tools, but in the end it will be the Donald Trump, that determines how the tools should be used. It will be nerve-racking for Hong kong people to witness to, say, Clemens Stubbe Østergaard.

Question: Will it say that Hong kong's status as a global financial centre is located in the Donald Trumps hands?

- Yes, I think, one must say.

the concrete details of the new sikkerhedslov is not yet known. It is clear, however, that the law, among other things, must be the means towards the separatist groups operating in Hong kong.

It can also lead to that the chinese intelligence agencies can set up offices in Hong kong.