The Political Economy of Hong Kong Development from Colonialism to the National Security Order

Please note the drink reception starts at 5:30 pm and the talk commences at 6 pm.

This talk outlines the transformation of Hong Kong’s economy from a colonial entrepôt to an export-oriented manufacturing hub and, eventually, a global financial center. I discuss Hong Kong’s evolving economic role within the context of the global capitalist economy and its connections to China, spanning from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. The focus is on the post-handover period, when Hong Kong became China’s offshore financial center, facilitating RMB internationalization while Beijing remained reluctant to liberalize its onshore financial system. Beijing's concerns over offshore wealth parked in Hong Kong and potential capital flight, along with the intensifying US-China rivalry, contributed to the unrest and crackdown of 2019-2020. While the erosion of Hong Kong’s legal autonomy under the post-2020 National Security Law is undermining its status as China’s offshore financial center, the growing division of the world economy into competing geopolitical blocs is accelerating Hong Kong’s development as an international hub for sanction evasion by the antinomies of the US and its allies.

About the Speaker

Ho-fung Hung is the Henry M. and Elizabeth P. Wiesenfeld Professor in Political Economy in the Department of Sociology and the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University. He is the current Editor-in-Chief of the journal Asian Perspective. He is the author of several award-winning and critically acclaimed books, including Protest with Chinese Characteristics (Columbia 2011), The China Boom: Why China Will not Rule the World (Columbia 2015), City on the Edge: Hong Kong under Chinese Rule (Cambridge 2022), and Clash of Empires: From “Chimerica” to the “New Cold War” (Cambridge 2022). His academic publications have been translated into at least 12 different languages. His analyses of the Chinese and global political economy have been cited or featured in major outlets around the world, such as The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, CNN, Financial Times, CBC, BBC, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Die Presse, DW, The Little Red Podcast, Strait Times, Chosun Ilbo, Nikkei, Caixin, South China Morning Post, and Folha de S. Paulo.

Banner image: Sergio Capuzzimati, Unsplash