Beijing has been willing to put pressure on Hong Kong businesses to be more patriotic.
At the meeting, the SOEs pledged to invest more in key Hong Kong industries including real estate and tourism in a bid to create jobs for local citizens and stabilise financial markets, two of the executives said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.The state-owned enterprises in attendance included oil giant Sinopec and conglomerate China Merchants Group, one of the sources said.
Instead of simply holding stakes in Hong Kong companies, the Chinese SOEs were also urged to look to control companies and have decision-making power in them, one of the people familiar with the meeting said. Hao, who was accompanied by a group of SOE executives, also met with Carrie Lam, the city’s chief executive.While China’s big state firms are for-profit enterprises and many are publicly traded, they have long been expected to do national service, including maintaining high levels of employment and helping Beijing execute initiatives such as its big Belt & Road infrastructure plan.
Widening mainland influence in Hong Kong has included the purchase of corporate assets and real estate.Local tycoons started to take over many of the businesses in the latter part of the 20th century, creating huge conglomerates such as Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings