Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

The central government's decision last week to change the venue of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Finance Ministers' Meeting in September from Hong Kong to Beijing has stirred heated discussions in Hong Kong.

China is host to this year's APEC meetings with Economic Leaders' Meeting to be held in Beijing in November, and eight ministerial-level meetings in different Chinese cities from May to September. It was announced by the Ministry of Finance last year that this year's Finance Ministers' Meeting would be held in Hong Kong this September.

The reason for the change, as notified by the central government, was due to the number of events and the broad range of issues covered in the meeting, said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government on February 25. The Tourism Ministers' Meeting, meanwhile, is expected to be held in Macao in August as scheduled.

The SAR government said it "fully respects and understands" the decision by the central government, but it has definitely been taken by surprise. The SAR government had already allotted a budget of HK$63 million ($8.12 million) for hosting the meeting and preparations were well underway.

The change of venue is both a disappointment and embarrassment to Hong Kong because the city's hopes to use the platform of such a high-level international meeting to showcase itself as a world-class financial center and increase tourism revenue have been dashed.

It has been over eight years since Hong Kong last successfully hosted a big-scale international conference, the WTO Ministerial Conference. Despite protests from about 2,000 Korean farmers at that time, Hong Kong has proved itself capable of hosting international conferences.

Although not officially confirmed by either the SAR or central authorities, it was widely speculated that the central government's decision had something to do with Occupy Central, a movement that aims to occupy the central business area of Hong Kong to "fight for democracy" in the city.

But the schedule of Occupy Central is unlikely to clash with the September Finance Ministers' Meeting. According to the organizers of the movement, the next event will be held at end of this year or early next year.

Even if Occupy Central is held at the same time as the Finance Ministers' Meeting, Hong Kong police are prepared and are confident that they can deal with security issues.

Some local politicians said the decision shows the central government will not allow some people in Hong Kong to use the occasion to embarrass the central government, especially when a lot of international media outlets are expected to cover the meeting. It also highlights that safety is the priority for the central government, even if it means Hong Kong will lose an opportunity to host an important meeting.

The concerns of the central government are not completely groundless. Hong Kong society is different from eight years ago. Hong Kong-mainland relations have been tainted in recent years by increasing conflicts brought by the influx of mainland tourists.

Sing Tao Daily, a Chinese language newspaper in Hong Kong, commented that if the Finance Ministers' Meeting only brings negative publicity for Hong Kong, it is perhaps a risk best avoided.

Despite some growing social discontentment in Hong Kong society about the impact of mainland tourists, Hong Kong is a safe city in general and the radical behavior of some does not speak for the whole of Hong Kong.

Even if there are some large-scale protests during the Finance Ministers' Meeting, there is ample time until September to be prepared for security measures.

Nonetheless, the incident provides an opportunity for Hong Kong to reflect on the costs that social and political movements such as Occupy Central might have on the society, and how these movements may deter international investment.

The author is an editor of Global Times Metro Shanghai. heluyi@globaltimes.com.cn