July 1 marks the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China, and is also the formal launch of the new national security law for Hong Kong. Experts believe the national security law will stabilize Hong Kong's current situation and improve its business environment, helping it regain economic momentum.

The city's GDP was 177 billion U.S. dollars in 1997, which doubled to 365 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. However, the city suffered its biggest drop this year – its GDP shrank 8.9 percent in the first quarter of 2020.

The economy has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the violent activities in recent months, not by the national security law, according to Jonathan Choi, chairman of the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce.

Choi, who has talked with several senior members of chambers of commerce in Hong Kong, observed that stability is the key concern among businesses, and that business society welcomes the law.

"If the national security law is imposed, there will be stability in Hong Kong, and business will come back to normal very soon," he said.

Meanwhile, the hardest-hit sectors, such as retail and tourism, welcome the law the most, according to Ronald Wan, CEO of Partners Capital International. He told CGTN that the law will restore people's confidence and accelerate recovery in those sectors.

"If society comes back to stability, people will start to invest, travel and spend. [It will] create more economic activities for the whole economy. And the Hong Kong economy can gain back the momentum, which is essential for the growth of the economy in the next few decades," Wan stressed.

And that was similar to the opinion held by Hong Hao, chief China strategist at BOCOM International, who said the business community in Hong Kong has been anticipating this new law.

"I think most people are basically welcoming a solution to the existing issues that we're facing in Hong Kong. So if you look at the market reaction, basically the market has been very strong," Hong told CGTN.

Hong added that Hong Kong's capital market maintains its appeal, despite the U.S. decision to revoke the city's special status. In 1997, Hong Kong's stock market capitalization stood at 3.2 trillion HK dollars. The figure exceeds 36 trillion HK dollars now.

"People are worrying too much. It is baffling to me why people think that capital would actually flow out of Hong Kong. Hong Kong has been a very important global financial center and also a proxy for Chinese growth," Hong said.

Echoing Hong, Ronald Wan also viewed Hong Kong as a magnet of capital flows despite the many challenges it's facing. For example, during the past two years, 87 new high-tech companies have listed in Hong Kong, raising more than 300 billion HK dollars.

And Hong Kong ranked the sixth-highest economy in terms of FDI inflows with 55 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. Before coming in as the second freest economy in the 2020 Index of Economic Freedom, the city was the world's freest economy for 25 straight years from 1995.

"It really shows how enthusiastic that foreign capital has been for Hong Kong as a financial hub and also for China here," Hong said.