{"id":2074,"date":"2018-10-11T01:46:52","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T01:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/?p=2074"},"modified":"2018-10-11T01:46:52","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T01:46:52","slug":"breakingviews-hong-kongs-political-risk-takes-new-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2018\/10\/11\/breakingviews-hong-kongs-political-risk-takes-new-form\/","title":{"rendered":"Breakingviews &#8211; Hong Kong\u2019s political risk takes new form"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ArticleHeader_container\">\n<div class=\"ArticleHeader_upper-container\">\n<div class=\"foreground\">\n<div class=\"TwoColumnLayout_container TwoColumnLayout_fluid-left\">\n<div class=\"TwoColumnLayout_column TwoColumnLayout_left\">\n<div class=\"ArticleHeader_content-container\">\n<h1 class=\"ArticleHeader_headline\">Breakingviews &#8211; Hong Kong\u2019s political risk takes new form<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"TwoColumnLayout_column TwoColumnLayout_right\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"lower-container\">\n<div class=\"TwoColumnLayout_container inner TwoColumnLayout_fluid-left\">\n<div class=\"TwoColumnLayout_column TwoColumnLayout_left\">\n<div class=\"ArticleHeader_content-container\">\n<div class=\"BylineBar_first-container ArticleHeader_byline-bar\">\n<div class=\"BylineBar_border-wrap\">\n<div class=\"BylineBar_byline\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/journalists\/robyn-mak\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robyn Mak<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"BylineBar_last-container\">\n<p class=\"BylineBar_reading-time\">3 MIN READ<\/p>\n<div class=\"BylineBar_share-container\">\n<div class=\"SocialTool_container\">\n<ul>\n<li><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"TwoColumnLayout_column TwoColumnLayout_right\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"TwoColumnLayout_container StandardArticle_content TwoColumnLayout_fluid-left\">\n<div class=\"TwoColumnLayout_column TwoColumnLayout_left\">\n<div class=\"StandardArticleBody_container\">\n<div class=\"StandardArticleBody_body\">\n<p>HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) &#8211; Hong Kong\u2019s political risk is taking a new form. The Chinese territory\u2019s leader, Carrie Lam, has made a good start tackling the housing crisis and other parts of her domestic agenda. Public sentiment has improved. With mass protests less likely, she may push for a controversial security law next.<\/p>\n<div class=\"PrimaryAsset_container\">\n<div class=\"Image_container\">\n<figure class=\"Image_zoom\">\n<div class=\"LazyImage_container LazyImage_dark\">\n<div class=\"LazyImage_image LazyImage_cover LazyImage_fallback\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Image_expand-button\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"Image_caption\">Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam attends an interview with Reuters in Hong Kong, China July 14, 2017. REUTERS\/Bobby Yip &#8211; RC14FDECF0F0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Four years after massive pro-democracy protests rocked the former British colony,\u00a0paralysing the financial district and denting some economic activity, tensions have eased. Lam, a former civil servant, is pushing ahead with plans to combat the city\u2019s severe shortage of affordable housing, addressing a major source of dissatisfaction. In June, she announced half a dozen new policies, including a tax on vacant flats and a much-needed overhaul of how subsidised flats are priced. The latter is expected to halve the cost of an apartment for eligible lower and middle-income families. More measures are expected in Lam\u2019s annual policy address on Oct. 10.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"DPSlot_container StandardArticleBody_dp-slot-inline\">\n<p>SPONSORED<\/p>\n<div id=\"dpslot_canvas_16629682_USKCN1MJ09C\" class=\"DPSlot_ad-container\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/4735792\/us.reuters\/opinion\/breakingviews\/article_3__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The public has thus warmed to Lam\u2019s administration, if not her personally. Her approval rating has fallen to a low of 40 percent, but public sentiment on the government and society markedly improved when she took office in July last year, according to data from the University of Hong Kong. Unexpectedly low turnout for legislative by-elections in March suggests political fatigue is setting in; the pro-democracy movement may be losing traction.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"DPSlot_container StandardArticleBody_dp-slot-inline\">\n<div id=\"dpslot_native_5607641_USKCN1MJ09C\" class=\"DPSlot_ad-container\">\n<div class=\"teads-adCall\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"teads-inread\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"teads-ui-components-adchoices\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"teads1\" class=\"teads-player\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>That might make room on the agenda to re-introduce a security law known as Article 23, which bans acts of treason, secession, and sedition. An earlier attempt to pass the controversial bill in 2003 rankled opposition groups as well as ordinary residents and drew half a million protestors onto the streets. But since then Lam has banned a pro-independence political party and kicked out a foreign journalist after he hosted the leader of that party to speak at an event, both unprecedented acts that met little popular resistance.<\/p>\n<p>The city\u2019s financiers appreciate stability, and there\u2019s little support in the business community for separatism. But the risks of further erosion of the rule of law and increasing censorship are rising. Lam may have won points in Beijing by drawing a red line around the subject of independence. Investors can only hope that line holds.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"Attribution_container\">\n<div class=\"Attribution_attribution\">\n<div>\n<h4 class=\"Attribution_title\">BREAKINGVIEWS<\/h4>\n<div class=\"Attribution_content Attribution_small\">\n<p>Reuters Breakingviews is the world&#8217;s leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time.<\/p>\n<p>Sign up for a free trial of our full service at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breakingviews.com\/trial\">https:\/\/www.breakingviews.com\/trial<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on Twitter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/breakingviews\">@Breakingviews<\/a>\u00a0and at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breakingviews.com\/\">www.breakingviews.com<\/a>. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"DPSlot_container StandardArticleBody_dp-slot-inline\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breakingviews &#8211; Hong Kong\u2019s political risk takes new form Robyn Mak 3 MIN READ HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) &#8211; Hong Kong\u2019s political risk is taking a new form. The Chinese territory\u2019s leader, Carrie Lam, has made a good start tackling the housing crisis and other parts of her domestic agenda. Public sentiment has improved. With mass protests less likely, she&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2018\/10\/11\/breakingviews-hong-kongs-political-risk-takes-new-form\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2077,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074\/revisions\/2077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}