Grant Strudwick: Half Century and Vice President

grant strudwick: But they point to issues clouding the outlook as investors and residents fret that the city will lose its Western-style freedoms. ; Many in Hong Kong believe their future hinges on keeping the civil liberties, independent courts and other advantages that Beijing promised to preserve for at least half a century after Britain ceded control under an arrangement dubbed one country, two systems, according to The Japan Times. We're still talking about 28 years, said Grant Strudwick, vice president for Asia for Pinkerton, which provides risk management services. The end of the former British colony's 50-year grace period after China took control in 1997 is years away, and the protests have made only a minor dent in day-to-day business. The spotlight is on China as to how they treat this transition period. Now it is a tiny fraction of that, thanks in no small part to an industrial boom driven by Hong Kong tycoons who set up factories across the border after China opened to outside investment in the 1970s. Hong Kong's economy once was about one-fifth the size of China's. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.