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By: Fabrice Jacob, CEO JK Capital Management Ltd., a La Française group-member company.

The recent events in Hong Kong are making headlines and have become a political tool in the hands of the Trump administration. Trying to stay as rational as possible, we wanted to share our views as a fund manager on the ground.

Let's start with the background. The National People's Congress (NPC), the legislative body of China, is about to promulgate a National Security law to become part of the Basic Law, the mini-constitution of Hong Kong. The National Security law's purpose is to criminalise acts of sedition, secession, treason and terrorism, which is something that most sovereign countries have in their own constitution. For instance, in the U.S., treason is covered by Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, and sedition by Title 18 of the U.S. Code of Laws. The reality in Hong Kong, however, is that when Chinese and British negotiators drafted the Basic Law, it was agreed and written black on white in Article 23 that the Hong Kong government would have to pass such a law after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. A first attempt in 2003 to do so failed following large scale protests, and the matter was postponed sine die. In other words, twenty-three years after the handover, the city still does not have any law in place to arrest and put on trial anyone accused of such acts.

In mid-2019, the Hong Kong government took the initiative to draft a controversial ......................

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