In April, AmCham revived its Annual China Conference, which began in 1992 but was stopped for four years during the pandemic. In one lively afternoon, we packed our Hub with up to 120 registrants, speakers, and sponsors. There were 25 speakers/moderators in four keynote sessions—US Consul General Greg May, HK Financial Secretary Paul Chan, Chinese MFA Acting Commissioner Li Yongsheng, and noted China Economist Jin Keyu, and three panels of experts and practitioners—including former US Consul General Kurt Tong. The speakers and the audience touched on the new innovative emphasis in the Chinese economy, the challenges to the current Chinese economy, and how does Hong Kong’s economy move forward with China’s. Varied views surfaced on whether the near future is bright or dim, but everyone agreed that it is no longer “business as usual” when it comes to the Chinese economy and Hong Kong economy. Elsewhere in this issue you will find a report on this conference.

There is no doubt that the implementation and implications of the new Article 23 legislation “Safeguarding National Security Ordinance” are of great interest to many of our members, so it was important to have Secretary of Justice Paul Lam come to the Chamber in April to talk about details of the legislation and to listen first-hand to members‘ questions and concerns. As usual, AmCham members were frank when expressing their views to the HKSAR Government.

And we will do the same with the US Government when our Chairman leads a delegation of AmCham leadership companies in July to Washington DC. We will be providing our members’ assessment of the environment of Hong Kong when we meet with Congress, the White House, State Department, and think tanks.

Finally, want to let you know early that our AmCham Annual Ball will be on October 5th this year. The theme will be “The Great Outdoors of Hong Kong”. This theme was chosen because, if you ask many of the 90,000 Americans who live in Hong Kong, the outdoors of Hong Kong—from the mountains to the sea, to the wetlands and beaches and outlying islands—are gems they love about life here. This Ball will celebrate that, as we will also remember that preservation of these natural wonders is crucial. Hope to see many of you at this year’s Ball!

I hope you enjoy this issue which has some very interesting articles and a fantastic interview with our Executive of the Year in this year’s Women of Influence awards—Luanne Lim the CEO of HSBC Hong Kong.