Bruised by months of street protests and calls to resign, Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam came to Davos with a tricky pitch to sell -- that the Chinese territory is still a safe destination for investment and she is not going anywhere.
Her stay at the four-day event in the Swiss Alps, which wraps up Friday, was shadowed by a downgrade from Moody's a day before World Economic Forum (WEF) even began on the grounds of a lack of government response to the protests.
Lam must also now deal with the health, social and economic consequences of the coronavirus in China, openly admitting Hong Kong is extremely vulnerable due to the flows of people from the mainland.
"I feel that we have gone through some very tough times. I personally have gone through and am still going through some very tough times," she said in candid remarks at a dinner late Thursday.
Lam has come under huge pressure as she struggled to end more than seven months of huge and often violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, the most severe challenge to Beijing's rule since the former British colony's 1997 handover to China.
She expressed disappointment with the downgrade from Moody's and acknowledged that negative growth was possible in 2019 and 2020.
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But she insisted that the key financial services sector was "as robust as ever" and insisted that it was Hong Kong's special status within China that meant it was still attractive for investment.
"It's a wonderful gateway between the mainland of China as well as the rest of world. It is still a wonderful financial centre," she sad in a keynote speech to Davos on Wednesday.
With Hong Kong also hit by the fallout from US-China trade tensions and now by the outbreak of the coronavirus in China as well, the economy has tipped into recession.
"We don't need a crystal ball to know that there are more changes and uncertainties ahead," acknowledged Laura Cha, the chair of Hong Kong's bourse operator HKEX.
But she added: "We do believe that Hong Kong is resilient. One message tonight is clear: Hong Kong is open to business."
"One of the main reasons is that China is still the best manufacturer of the world."
"They are merely putting on a show," he said. "Foreign investors also don't buy this."
"We have a basic law, which on the one hand gives us the freedoms and the independence of judiciary. On the other hand, it has certain safeguards to make sure that constitutional development is something that is acceptable."
"Leaving that position vacant will only create more uncertainty and confusion."
Listing the numerous troubles besetting Hong Kong, she said: "Hong Kong has several crises to handle, to manage, the economic recession, the continued protests, and political discontent, and lately a public health crisis."