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HONG KONG (Reuters) - The Hong Kong government needs to protect the city's international financial hub status after years of upheaval, chairman of conglomerate CK Group Victor Li said on Thursday.
Li was speaking after his property company CK Asset, one of Hong Kong's biggest developers, reported a 10% decline in net profit from continuing operations last year.
Asked about his views on the city's economy at an earnings conference, Li said - after a sigh - that the people of Hong Kong had gone through several stress tests since 2019, when the city was roiled by anti-government protests, followed by the pandemic and now a struggling economy.
"It will depend on the Hong Kong government how they deal with (the economy); my thinking is Hong Kong has to keep its international financial hub status .... It was hard earned for Hong Kong and it cannot lose it."
The Hong Kong government is trying to reinvigorate the appeal of the city after Beijing's imposition of a sweeping national security law in 2020 and three years of COVID lockdowns prompted an exodus of people from Hong Kong, taking a toll on its reputation and economy.
Sino-U.S. tensions, China's slowing economy and a new national security law to take effect this week are piling additional challenges on Hong Kong, hurting its traditional role as a gateway between the West and the mainland, diplomats and business executives have said.
The Hong Kong government has said the city remains an attractive destination for foreign investments.
Li, the son of billionaire Li Ka-Shing, brushed off suggestions the group has not been making big investments in Hong Kong recently, saying it had bought eight property projects in the last three years.
"Real estate projects all look at margins; if their margins are lower than those of other business, the capital needs to go to sectors with higher returns."
He said all the negative news impacting the city's property prices, including interest rate hikes and additional stamp duties, had passed and so there was a greater likelihood of the market going up.
(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Mark Potter)