Halfway to the point when Hong Kong will officially be enveloped by China, Beijing is not just calling the shots politically, but in vast swaths of the city’s $344 billion economy.
From the stock exchange to brokerages, construction projects to the retail sector, Chinese state-controlled firms are increasingly dominating, taking market share away from the local tycoons and British trading houses that thrived under the final decades of U.K. rule.
Those behind the growing Chinese influence view Hong Kong’s economy as stagnant, slow to embrace the technology-driven, new economy industries that have been catalysts for growth on the mainland. Chinese enterprises have been handed more political power in the city, including a recent revamp of the electoral system that reduced the influence of local businesspeople and added greater representation for state-backed companies.