How great cities like Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Singapore can save globalisation

As states are increasingly divided into competing blocs, cities rise as hubs that hold together the unravelling fabric of a deglobalising world

Cities’ ability to build and extend new connections will be crucial, and the Greater Bay Area is fertile ground for Hong Kong to do just that

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The Shenzhen Bay Bridge connecting Hong Kong and Shenzhen is seen on July 13. With national-level politics bogged down by war and discord, cities could be the new source of dynamism for globalisation. Photo: AFP

Wai-Hong TangandNeville Lai

Published: 9:45am, 30 Oct 2022

A rivalry of cities is raging in East Asia. As Hong Kong was bogged down by the debate on its quarantine policy, Singapore was seen as overtaking its rival as the region’s leading global financial centre by actively attracting businesses, capital and talent that had lost confidence in Hong Kong.

In the meantime, across Hong Kong’s northern border, the Shenzhen municipal government has pledged to develop the city into an international centre of financial technology by 2025. In the face of these challenges, the Hong Kong government secured the commitment of the world’s leading bankers to attend the city’s financial summit and finally decided to lift compulsory hotel quarantine.

While many in Hong Kong worry that the city is losing its advantage, the competition between cities demonstrates their resilience. At a time when the state-based global governance architecture has been paralysed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of populism, how cities will navigate the ever-changing geopolitical landscape is an important and fascinating question.

As states are increasingly divided into competing blocs, metropolises situated along ideological and geopolitical fault lines will re-emerge and rise as hubs that will hold together the unravelling fabric of a deglobalising world.