Hi, this is Kenji from Hong Kong.
As a leading commercial hub, the government here likes to boast about how business-friendly the place is. Those boasts became more insistent after Beijing imposed a draconian national security law almost three years ago that restricted various freedoms and led thousands of residents to move to places like the U.K. and Canada.
One of the key aspects of business friendliness — along with a simple, low-tax regime — is the ease of establishing a company. The government’s online registry is open 24 hours to accept applications literally anytime. To stimulate economic activity, the local government slashed the cost of business registration certificates to as low as 150 Hong Kong dollars ($19.10) for the first year, until the end of last month.
But being able to set up companies too easily can open the door to other problems, for example making it difficult…
