Hong Kong Courts the Rich as China Tightens Its Grip

Beijing, which can’t afford to let its attack on civil liberties scare away global banks and financiers, is offering them a big tax break and other perks.

HONG KONG — Political opposition has been quashed. Free speech has been stifled. The independent court system may be next. But while Hong Kong’s top leaders take a tougher line on the city of more than seven million people, they are courting a crucial constituency: the rich. Top officials are preparing a new tax break and other sweeteners to portray Hong Kong as the premier place in Asia to make money, despite the Chinese Communist Party’s increasingly autocratic rule. So far, the pitch is working. Cambridge Associates, a $30 billion investment fund, said in March it planned to open an office in the city. Investment managers have set up more than a hundred new companies in recent months. The Wall Street banks Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are increasing their Hong Kong staffing.