Asian shares fall on US friction with China, Hong Kong fears

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares slipped in Asia on Friday as tensions flared between the U.S. and China and as more job losses compounded the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank more than 5% on Friday after legislation that could limit opposition activity in the former British colony was presented to China’s ceremonial parliament.

Mass protests in the southern Chinese financial hub grew increasingly violent last year and only abated somewhat as the city fought off the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities have since cracked down on dissent, arresting some of Hong Kong's veteran pro-democracy figures and alleging they were behind the demonstrations that largely were driven by young students.

“Traders around the world are playing the waiting game to see details of the new Hong Kong law to gauge how severe the terms are," Stephen Innes of AxiCorp said in a commentary.

More specifically, he said, will be the U.S. response to the possible impact on Hong Kong’s special economic status. Under the terms of Britain's handover of control of the territory to Beijing, the city kept its own trade regime and finances and a legal system based on western-style civil liberties that are denied to people living in other parts of China.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 5.5% to 22,944.00.

Shanghai's Composite index fell 1.6%, to 2,820.87 despite a promise by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the top economic official, to provide 2 trillion yuan ($280 billion), among other stimulus measures, to help revive the country's economy and curb job losses from the pandemic.

Li told the opening session of the national legislature that Beijing would set no economic growth target in order to focus on fighting the disease. He warned in his annual report to lawmakers that the...