Advertisement
Opinion | Hong Kong is poised to be a bigger force for regional prosperity
- Hong Kong is already a significant trade and investment partner to members of RCEP, the world’s largest trade bloc
- After the city’s membership is approved, it can help to harmonise trade rules, stimulate intra-bloc capital flows and foster connections and partnerships
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which entered into force on January 1, 2022, encompasses all 10 Asean member states plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. It represents 30 per cent of the world’s population and 30 per cent of global gross domestic product, and epitomises the virtues of open and dynamic trade relations, the very foundation on which Hong Kong was built into a global logistics, trading and financial hub.
Advertisement
Hong Kong filed an application to join the RCEP in January 2022, and the city is expected to come on board as a member of the world’s largest free trade pact this year. A good number of RCEP members have expressed support for Hong Kong’s application.
Indeed, all RCEP members, including the economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, are already important trading partners of Hong Kong’s. The city has signed free trade agreements with 13 of the 15 RCEP members. RCEP members accounted for 71 per cent of the city’s total merchandise trade in 2022 and 46 per cent of its total trade in services in 2021.
Hong Kong will benefit significantly from RCEP membership with boosted trade among member economies. In the meantime, Hong Kong can contribute to both the RCEP and the region by providing top-notch professional services, infrastructure and connectivity, given the city’s geographical proximity to and people-to-people ties with markets in the region, in particular the Greater Bay Area and the rest of China. This will help RCEP members receive the services and technical support they need.
Hong Kong is an “important trade and investment partner” to RCEP members, as Premier Li Qiang said in a speech last year seeking greater regional economic synergy.
Advertisement
At the Hong Kong-Asean Summit last year, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu pledged that the city would be a “value-adding gateway” connecting China to the rest of the world while leveraging Hong Kong’s well-established systems, outstanding connectivity, business-friendly environment, simple and low tax system, superb efficiency and know-how accumulated over a century.
Advertisement