Cathay Pacific’s majority shareholder pressed into condemning ‘violent’ Hong Kong protests
- Swire Pacific expressed strong backing for the Hong Kong government and the city’s police after senior executive visited Beijing on Monday
- It follows a report that a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Hong Kong was denied access to Chinese airspace under new regulations regarding the identity of flight crew, a report Cathay Pacific denied
Cathay Pacific found itself further caught up in Beijing’s resolve to restrict expressions of support for anti-government protests in Hong Kong after the majority shareholder of the flagship airline was pressed into issuing its most strongly worded statement to date supporting the city’s place in China.
The statement from Swire Pacific expressed strong backing for the Hong Kong government and the police, while also condemning the “violent behaviour” of protests as a threat to the “one country, two systems” legal agreement that underpins Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Cathay Pacific echoed its major shareholder Swire Pacific’s statement, stating it “strongly supported” the Hong Kong government.
It came as Swire Pacific chairman and executive director, Merlin Bingham Swire, was on an official visit to Beijing and amid reports that a Cathay Pacific flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Hong Kong, with no passengers on board, was denied entry into Chinese airspace on Monday because it had not provided the required information about the identities of the crew.
On Tuesday, Swire Pacific said that it “is deeply concerned by the ongoing violence and disruption impacting Hong Kong. We resolutely support the Hong Kong SAR government, the chief executive and the police in their efforts to restore law and order. We condemn all illegal activities and violent behaviour, which seriously undermine the fundamental principle of one country, two systems as enshrined in the Basic Law.”
The need for the statement underscored Beijing’s increasingly tough response to the Hong Kong protests and indicates that the Chinese government will not allow Hong Kong’s tycoons to show sympathy or express ambivalence toward the protests, which have become increasingly violent.
A Chinese government official, who had been briefed on the matter, confirmed that the visit to Beijing on Monday by Swire, who is also a director of Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, was related to reports that a Cathay Pacific flight from New York to Hong Kong was diverted to Osaka, Japan, after being denied access to Chinese airspace.
Cathay Pacific vehemently denied that the flight had been denied access to Chinese airspace.
We condemn all illegal activities and violent behaviour, which seriously undermine the fundamental principle of one country, two systems as enshrined in the Basic Law
A post published on Tuesday afternoon on the official Weibo account of China’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the ruling Communist Party’s organ managing the police and courts, claimed that CX899 failed to provide the required information regarding the identities of the crew, resulting in the flight being denied entry into Chinese airspace. The flight, known as a ferry flight, was not carrying passengers as its purpose was to move the aircraft into position where it was needed for future use.
Cathay Pacific said in a statement: “A number of long-haul flights were queuing to land at the [Hong Kong] airport, so CX899 flight from Newark to Hong Kong was diverted to Osaka as it was carrying no passengers on board. The diversion helped reduce pressure on airport operations and minimise inconvenience to passengers.”
CAAC issued a one-line statement on Monday that Cui Xiaofeng, its deputy director, met the Swire chairman “upon request”, but it did not elaborate further on the meeting.
A Chinese aviation industry official also confirmed that CX899 changed its route because it “failed to obtain the entry permission” needed to transit through Chinese airspace, citing information from an internal logging system.
The CAAC did not immediately respond to faxed questions from the South China Morning Post, while two phone calls to its spokesman’s office on Tuesday afternoon also went unanswered.
The airline was, without any doubt, trying to test whether the announced measures by CAAC would be implemented
A Cathay Pacific pilot was then suspended on Tuesday for misusing company information, a violation of the airline’s new “zero tolerance” internal code of conduct policy, an airline spokeswoman confirmed.
The airline is under heavy scrutiny by the Chinese government, as well as mainland customers and investors. The investment banking arm of China’s largest lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, cut its recommendation on Cathay Pacific shares to “strong sell” and reduced the target stock price to HK$6 per share from Tuesday’s closing price of HK$9.55, Bloomberg News reported.
One-fifth of all Cathay Pacific flights serve mainland China and, combined with traffic through Hong Kong, they account for half of the airline's total revenue.
