2014-12-31

Soft Power Swallows Hong Kong

Everything in South East Asia will become a colony of China eventually (and South Korea is already a colony). All China has to do is grow its economy and wait. China runs into trouble if issues of identity and sovereignty take precedence over economics, which is why Taiwan is becoming a thorny issue. The young people of Taiwan are independence minded and reproducing their ideas to children via the history textbook, as China has whipped up anti-Japanese sentiment among the people. Hong Kong is far too close, and far too commercial, to resist China.

The mainland's colonization of the Hong Kong economy
One of the most telling signs of change is the space mainland Chinese companies lease in Central district, the heart of Hong Kong’s financial center. These firms now account for over 50 per cent of new leases signed for offices there, according to a September report from Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA. That’s up from 20 percent in 2012, the report said.

The trend is the same in all major business districts. Mainland occupancy of 25 key Grade A office buildings, or prime office space, in the districts of Central, Admiralty, Sheung Wan and Wan Chai increased from 13 percent in 2008 to 21 percent earlier this year, according to commercial real estate services firm CBRE.

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