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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Jan 13th 2021
The Squeeze Of Old Hong Kong
Last Wednesday Hong Kong police arrested scores of pro-democracy activists for joining forces to try and win a local parliamentary election and thereafter block government legislation. The use of a tough new national security law to suppress routine political organization threatens more international opprobrium that will further cut the city off from the Anglosphere.
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard, Tom Holland, Dan Wang, Vincent Tsui
Nov 26th 2020
Webinar: Hong Kong Under The National Security Law
Hong Kong has spent five months living under a tough national security law imposed on it from Beijing. The direct impact has been a sharp curtailment of opposition political activity that has sparked sanctions from the United States. Now, China has plans for more changes to Hong Kong's legal system, with a requirement for judges to be patriots. In yesterday’s webinar, Vincent Tsui, Dan Wang, Tom Holland and Simon Pritchard discussed the...
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Jun 22nd 2020
China Legislates For Hong Kong
The summary of Hong Kong’s national security law released on Saturday is a tough read for advocates of a common law system. It represents a hybrid of China’s and Hong Kong’s legal systems that effectively ends the separation of powers between the executive and judiciary. How quickly the city changes as a result depends on the severity of enforcement.
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Gavekal Research
Arthur Kroeber, Simon Pritchard, Louis Gave, Vincent Tsui
May 27th 2020
Webinar: The Future Of Hong Kong
Louis Gave, Simon Pritchard and Vincent Tsui joined Arthur Kroeber to talk about the national security law which China's National People's Congress announced it will implement in Hong Kong, and what this could mean for Hong Kong's future as a global financial center.
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
May 25th 2020
The Death Of Old Hong Kong
On Monday morning, the streets around Gavekal’s offices in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district teemed with harried commuters rather than baton-charging police and political protesters. Unfortunately, uncertainty about Hong Kong’s future as a free society will linger longer than the tear gas that had drenched the area a few hours earlier. There is now a fair chance that China’s imposition of a new national security law in Hong Kong will cause a chain...
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Nov 29th 2019
An American Intervention
After easily passing both houses of Congress, Donald Trump had little choice but to sign bills dictating the US government’s treatment of Hong Kong. Its significance will be determined by Beijing’s response, and for now that is likely to stay focused on achieving an interim trade deal that delivers a roll-back on US import tariffs.
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Nov 25th 2019
The Hong Kong People Speak
The last 15 years has seen pro-government parties in Hong Kong rely on voter apathy and division across the democratic camp to often rule the roost. That changed yesterday, with establishment parties getting thumped in local council elections as voters expressed anger at the government’s handling of violent street protests in the last six months.
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Nov 13th 2019
Something Has To Give
Public support for Hong Kong's protest movement has been re-energized by perceived police brutality, the local government offering no political response to the crisis and Mainland authorities delivering mixed, but slightly sinister messages about their next move. This piece assesses the political forces at play and takes a stab at explaining what comes next.
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Oct 07th 2019
Hong Kong’s Core Problem
The Hong Kong government’s stated aim is to drive a wedge between radical protesters who are resigned to jail or worse, and a less committed group that it thinks will be cowed by increased penalties. Initial evidence suggests the strategy is a busted flush. Sunday saw large-scale illegal marches by mask-clad demonstrators before the now predictable violence unfolded.
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Sep 26th 2019
Video: Where Next Hong Kong?
Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam today begins a process of civic engagement aimed at bridging the divide between an unpopular government and a diffuse movement that has engaged in 17 weeks of violent protest. Simon discusses whether economic goodies can buy off dissent and assesses the chances of a compromise political settlement.
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Aug 16th 2019
Troops On The Border
Extreme nervousness in global markets can be attributed to a synchronous weakening of growth that has been reinforced by soft data out of Germany and China. This is also a juncture when commentators seem to have concluded that pent up stresses in the global trading and security system have reached a tipping point. On top of these secular worries is the terror that China is about to have a “Tiananmen moment” by violently crushing the two month...
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Jul 30th 2019
China’s Hong Kong Gambit
Following more violent protests in Hong Kong, Beijing reiterated its support for the city’s embattled chief executive in a first-ever press briefing on Hong Kong’s affairs. While the conflict shows no signs of resolution, the example set by Paris shows that Hong Kong can be both a dependable financial center and a hotbed of political dissent.
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Jul 02nd 2019
Hong Kong Revolts
Twenty two years ago Britain handed back Hong Kong to China under the “one country, two systems” formula. Since then, the July 1 anniversary has seen the public demonstrate against the loss of freedoms This year’s escalation saw a hard core of protesters occupy and vandalize the local parliament. This is a key moment in Hong Kong’s era of dissent.
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Jun 11th 2019
The Threat To Hong Kong
On Sunday, a million Hong Kongers protested a planned law change that will let individuals be extradited to face trial in China, the city’s biggest political protest in more than 15 years. On Monday, the city’s equity benchmark rose 2%. The betting is that this political furor will pass. But the broader context puts the city at risk of becoming collateral damage in the US-China confrontation.
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Gavekal Research
Anatole Kaletsky, Simon Pritchard
Nov 15th 2018
The Winding Road To Vassalage
No one much likes Theresa May’s compromise deal that would leave Britain as a rule-taking, semi-detached appendage to the European Union. That, however, is the most likely outcome after the UK cabinet yesterday approved an exit deal that sets up a November 25 summit, where EU leaders will be asked for their assent. Shortly afterwards, the UK parliament will have its say, and despite challenging math in the House of Commons a “national interest”...
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Gavekal Research
Simon Pritchard
Nov 20th 2017
Who Needs A Government?
What would it take to make you put more risk on the table in the final month of a year that has generally produced decent investment returns? It helps to have a synchronized global economic recovery that relies on multiple engines of growth and a US-tested monetary policy framework that seems to work as advertised. Yet the potential for disappointment, starting with US tax reform, appears to be growing. Add to that list an outbreak of political...
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Gavekal Research
Nick Andrews, Simon Pritchard
May 19th 2017
A Less Flexible Britain
Yesterday saw the release of robust UK retail sales data for April that reversed a weakening trend and pointed to still strong consumers. So it was notable that on a day that confirmed British economic resilience despite attendant uncertainties, Prime Minister Theresa May effectively renounced free market policies that long have been core tenants of the Conservative Party credo.
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Gavekal Research
Udith Sikand, Simon Pritchard
Oct 14th 2016
Thailand’s Transition
Perhaps the one thing that Thailand’s polarized political tribes have agreed on in recent times is that the passing of their (generally) popular king would mark a pivotal moment of transition. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, who died yesterday was a steady presence who stopped violent political struggles from morphing into a general civil conflict. The concern is that this restraint now goes out of the window, as opponents to the royalist...
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Gavekal Research
Udith Sikand, Simon Pritchard
Oct 04th 2016
Staring Into The Abyss
Since Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines in May, he has sanctioned the extra-judicial killing of some 3,600 petty criminals and drug users, graphically insulted the US president, favorably compared himself to Hitler, and threatened to switch his country’s allegiance to China and Russia. As he has ripped up behavioral norms for democratic heads of state, investors have yanked out at least US$500mn of capital over the last two...
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Gavekal Research
Nick Andrews, Simon Pritchard
Sep 28th 2016
The German Banking Problem
These are not happy times for Europe’s commercial bankers. The adoption of negative interest rates may have averted the slide into a deflationary abyss, but the policy has hit lending margins, and with them profits. Exhibit A is Deutsche Bank, the dominant financial institution in Europe’s largest and most dynamic economy. Deutsche, whose market value has shrunk to just US$14bn, has problems of its own making in the US, yet its plight has been...
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