Hong Kong watches as America decides

Many people in Hong Kong were keeping a close watch on the unfolding results of the hotly contested US elections on Wednesday, with opinions here as divided as those in the United States. Dozens of people attended a watch party organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. One of them, Chris Growney who works in the financial services sector, thinks a win for Republican candidate Donald Trump would also be a victory for American businesses. "The businesses that are in the States would be treated with better tax efficiency, have better opportunities to create new jobs” he opined. “And ideally, if there are potentially higher tariffs on imports then that could potentially help American businesses." But Diana Parusheva-Lowery, who works in the same sector, believes a Trump victory could mean more restrictions. "If there are more tariffs, if there are more investment restrictions, this is going to affect trade flow, investment flow, and ultimately capital flow," she said. "But equally, if Kamala Harris wins, she also has her policies towards China, which will also have an effect to which might be similar, might be different." There were also a number of people who still don’t have a preference either for Trump or Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, including businessman Mark Wise. "The US and Chinese economies are intertwined... One candidate is a bit more protectionist in their approach, and another is more in line with traditional, open and free trade between the countries. That could a material difference in the economic situation for both countries, depending on the outcome," he said. "But I'd say that having an election that takes longer than a day is going to be something that no one wants." Eden Woon, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, said the result will determine the future development of Sino-US ties, which will also have a direct impact on the SAR. “It is very important for Hong Kong because Hong Kong has a very close trade relationship with the United States. Historically, it has a very good connection with the United States' civil society and here many people, many businesses have an interest in the United States. So we are also watching to see what happens in this election”, Woon told RTHK. Other watch parties were being held elsewhere in the territory, including at a pub in Central. Raj, a British shipping worker in Hong Kong, said he's not surprised to see Trump leading early but believed the Democrats will take over eventually. "The Republicans always take an early lead... Typically whenever you watch an election like this it always looks like the Republicans are winning, but it's going to be very close, so I think at the end, we're going to see the Democrats coming forward," he said. “I want to follow the results of this election because I think it has an impact geopolitically all over the world.” For James Lockett, chairman of Democrats Abroad and organiser of the event, the early results came as a surprise. "Compared to 2020, by this time, Joe Biden had a big lead because of early voting”, he noted. "My main concern is gun control, it's very important, and also women's rights are very important. Diversity in the workplace is very important to me."