Hong Kong has an uncanny capacity to weather a crisis. And so has its property market, where prices are among the highest in the world. In the last 30 years, the city has recovered from the uncertainty surrounding the 1997 handover from Britain to China, the 1998 Asian financial crisis, the 2002-2003 Sars epidemic, and the 2008 global financial crisis.
But now it faces two quite different challenges at once — the Covid-19 pandemic and the imposition of tough national security laws by Beijing that raise questions about the territory’s cherished freedoms.
While the US and its allies have said Hong Kong’s autonomy has been undermined, China insists that it is simply implementing the principles of “one country, two systems”, set out in the 1997 handover agreement. Meanwhile, quarantine checks at Hong Kong’s borders are limiting its cherished double role as both an entry point to mainland China and an international hub, not least for rich investors.