Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China operating under 'one country, two systems'—a constitutional framework that promised 50 years of autonomy from the 1997 handover but has been progressively tightened since the 2019 protests. The National Security Law (June 2020) and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (March 2024) criminalized secession, subversion, terrorism, and foreign collusion; as of June 2025, 326 people had been arrested under these laws, with 165 convicted—including 45 pro-democracy advocates sentenced up to 10 years in November 2024. Despite political transformation, Hong Kong remains the world's 7th-largest equity market by capitalization (2024), with IPOs raising $10.7 billion across 66 listings in 2024—the biggest since 2021. Q1 2025 saw $2.3 billion in IPO proceeds, nearly three times 2024's first quarter. The Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (December 2023) and zero percent tax for family investment management entities aim to attract capital. Complete freedom of capital movement and a well-understood regulatory environment persist, but foreign firms face 'heightened uncertainty' under the new security framework.