Rising geopolitics makes it more imperative for SAR to boost trade ties

At the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu once again expressed his wish for Hong Kong to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership pact.

Ever since the RCEP was initiated, Hong Kong has made it clear that it aspires to become a stakeholder in the region’s economic integration, an attempt that has the strong backing of the central government and is in alignment with the Basic Law and the RCEP rules.

As Hong Kong is one of the few highly open economies in the world, there is virtually no obstacle to Hong Kong becoming a member of the RCEP block since no major adjustments are required for its economic regulations and systems. Besides, the city is on par with a developed economy, which not only enables it to withstand potential economic shockwaves from other RCEP members but also to take in capital, technology, and talents from them.

For Hong Kong, the resistance to joining the pact comes from negative external factors. A few RCEP members that are unfriendly toward China are not receptive to a Hong Kong membership, which they claim would build up China’s overall influence in the RCEP network. The US, although not a member of the RCEP, has exerted influence on some members of the pact. Establishing the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) to rive the RCEP is a case in point.

RCEP is composed of 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. All of them except three ASEAN countries are also members of APEC. RCEP is therefore compatible with the free trade area of the Asia-Pacific. IPEF, on the other hand, differs greatly from RCEP and other regional economic integration associations. While the latter group is committed to realizing the gradual and holistic integration of members, IPEF only selects and includes industries and sectors preferred by Washington so as to create a small economic clique that caters to the interests of the US. Therefore, IPEF is aimed at not only dismembering ASEAN but also breaking up APEC and RCEP. What’s more, Washington aims to use IPEF to build a high wall between China and its neighbors to isolate the country and curb its resurgence.

Despite Washington’s obsession with IPEF, no one suspects its commitment to hindering Hong Kong from participating in RCEP. Since IPEF is designed to hold back China’s rise, the White House surely will not stand idly by, allowing anything (including the RCEP) that benefits Hong Kong and thus the Chinese mainland.

To counteract the hostile maneuvers of the US, Hong Kong — in addition to pursuing RCEP membership — will need to scrutinize the geopolitical landscape and cooperate with the State in expanding high-level opening-up.

Ever since they took office, John Lee and his administration have launched new measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 while gradually resuming and facilitating both inbound and outbound personnel exchanges. The city has successfully hosted several major international events such as the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit and the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament. International audiences are delighted to see the Pearl of the Orient regain its glamor.

Nonetheless, the Hong Kong community should keep a clear head in assessing the country’s anti-pandemic policy. There are voices of opposition to the country’s dynamic zero-COVID strategy in Hong Kong. These critics failed to appreciate the imperative of putting people’s lives first amid the onslaught of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. They mistakenly believe that the right way to cope with the pandemic is to “live with the virus”, the prevalent approach in the West that has been adopted only because of its institutional flaws and social conditions. Their misjudgments have led to an erroneous evaluation of Hong Kong’s anti-pandemic strategy, asserting that the city has isolated itself from the outside world for three years. 

Since the United States adjusted its global strategy to regard China as its major rival in late 2017 and launched an all-around campaign to contain China’s rise, Hong Kong’s effort to expand global connectivity has suffered setbacks because of the interference and sabotage of the US and its allies. The 2019 “black-clad” riots incited by external forces not only disrupted the city’s social order but also tarnished its international image. John Lee’s emphasis on telling Hong Kong’s story well is more or less a tactical response to restore the city’s international stature.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further damaged its global connectivity aside from bringing personnel exchanges with the Chinese mainland to a halt and hindering Hong Kong’s integration into national development. Hong Kong’s priority now is to carefully size up its situation, reaffirm its commitment to being fully open to the world and step up its effort to dovetail its own development with national development in the face of the US containment strategy.

The author is a senior research fellow of China Everbright Holdings. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.