HONG KONG, May 29 (Reuters) - Former Hong Kong leader Leung
Chun-ying on Friday called out banking group HSBC Holdings plc
for not making its "stance" clear on China's imposition
of a new security law on the city, after the United Kingdom's
criticism of the move.
"One week has passed, HSBC still hasn't expressed their
stance on the national security legislation," Leung, Hong Kong's
chief executive from 2012-2017, wrote in a Facebook post.
"(The) UK government is following the US government; whether
or not HSBC will follow UK govt is something we need to be
highly concerned about," he wrote.
HSBC declined to comment.
The comments from Leung, a vice chairman of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference, a top advisory body,
underscore the risk for foreign businesses of becoming caught
in the political crossfire amid fresh civil unrest over a law
that many Hong Kongers fear will reduce their city's freedoms.
The United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada
have criticised China for imposing the law.
Leung said HSBC should not do things that hurts "China's
sovereignty, dignity and people's feelings", while making money
in that country.
"China and Hong Kong doesn't owe HSBC anything, the China
business at HSBC can be replaced overnight by banks from China
and other countries," he wrote.
"We need to let the UK government, politicians, British
companies like HSBC know which side of the bread is buttered."
Founded in Hong Kong about 150 years ago, HSBC gets bulk of
revenue from China and Hong Kong.
London-listed shares of HSBC and Standard Chartered
, which also has a large exposure to Hong Kong, were
down more than 2% and 3%, respectively, on Friday.
HSBC was briefly caught up in anti-government protests in
Hong Kong during past months, when some of its branches were
vandalised and its famous bronze lions graffitied during a
protest march on Jan. 1.
(Reporting by Clare Jim and Alun John; Writing by Sumeet
Chatterjee)