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HONG KONG


“HONG KONG IS, IN THEORY, VULNERABLE TO THE WHIMS OF CHINESE GOVERNMENT, BUT IN PRACTICE, CHINA SEEMS UNLIKELY TO TRY AND FIX SOMETHING THAT EMPHATICALLY ISN’T BROKEN.”


to chief economist Dickson Ho, it handles more international air cargo than anywhere else in the world, while it also boasts one of the busiest cargo ports. This clearly makes it an attractive place for business, but rivals are emerging. Singapore would no doubt argue that it fulfils many of the same criteria as Hong Kong, but without suffering from the risk that mainland policy might change. Hong Kong is, in theory, vulnerable to the whims of Chinese government, but in practice, China


seems unlikely to try and fix something that emphatically isn’t broken.


And Hong Kong has one asset that Singapore will never match: proximity to the Pearl River Delta. Tis area of Guangdong province on the Chinese mainland is developing into the engine room of the PRC’s economy. Tough in some ways, it threatens Hong Kong’s success (with rival cargo ports, for example), its advantages to the city far outweigh its disadvantages. Te two territories


have signed a Framework Agreement on Hong Kong Guangdong Cooperation which promises further to enhance business between, and within, the two regions.


Friendly environment


Hong Kong has a 15 percent flat rate of income tax, with a 16.5 percent corporation tax and no sales tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax. More important, income is taxed only if it derives from, or arises in, Hong Kong itself. Tis makes it an


46 World Intellectual Property Review January/February 2012


www.worldipreview.com


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