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Bryan Luk

The Hong Kong government has launched a public consultation on the city’s first five-year development plan, a blueprint aimed at aligning with China’s newly approved 15th five-year plan. Officials have promised a “macroscopic, strategic and forward-looking” road map that will guide Hong Kong’s economic and social development for the rest of this decade.
That invitation to think in five-year horizons is precisely why Hong Kong must now think bigger about its place in the world – not only as “Asia’s world city” but as a serious contender to become Asia’s multilateral hub.
A quiet but profound shift is under way in the architecture of global governance. It is not the product of a grand design but of a vacuum.
The United States, long the anchor of the multilateral system, is stepping back at a speed and scale unseen in the post-war era, withdrawing from organisations, slashing funding and abandoning values it once championed.
China has started moving into more of a global leadership role. It has helped to build a parallel ecosystem of institutions, from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank to the more assertive Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has embarked on a decentralisation drive under the UN80 reform agenda announced in 2025. Faced with funding cuts, agencies are moving posts out of New York and Geneva. The UNDP alone has announced the relocation of about 400 positions to Germany and Spain, while other agencies are exploring new hubs in Bangkok, Nairobi and Dubai that could increase their exposure to developing economies.


Governments that grasp what is at stake are already responding. Traditional Western hubs such as Switzerland have moved to defend their status. The Swiss government has earmarked 269 million Swiss francs (US$338.6 million) between 2025 and 2029 to safeguard Geneva’s position as a multilateral capital – a reminder that hosting international organisations is now a fiercely competitive business, not a diplomatic afterthought.
These developments create a moment when the geography of global governance is up for renegotiation. The question for Hong Kong’s first five-year plan is: does the city intend to help draw that new map? The old familiar priorities – consolidating the city’s status as a global hub, deepening integration with the Greater Bay Area, seizing opportunities from national development – are important but neither sufficient nor exciting.
Hong Kong’s first five-year plan should also say something about how we intend to project our strengths to Beijing and the global community – how we turn connectivity, creativity and credibility into real global influence. That is why developing a hub for international organisations should be a strategic line of business that deserves its own policy attention.
Hong Kong already has many legal and historical assets. Under “one country, two systems” and the Basic Law, it maintains a separate international economic and legal personality, participates independently in key bodies such as the World Trade Organization and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and operates a bilingual common law system trusted by global institutions.

It has deep capital markets, clean and efficient governance, a sophisticated legal profession and proven arbitration capacity. The International Organisation for Mediation being headquartered in Hong Kong shows that, when the offer is compelling, new multilateral bodies are willing to choose this city.
As of the end of 2025, Hong Kong hosted 63 consulates-general and 50 honorary consulates and recognised eight international organisation offices with formal status. These figures underscore the distinctiveness of Hong Kong’s international legal position.
What Hong Kong is missing is not foundation and capability but direction. Since 1997, Hong Kong, with the consent of the central government, has handled international organisations on an ad hoc basis, negotiating privileges and facilities case by case. That might have sufficed when hosting a handful of representative offices was seen as a diplomatic nicety. In a world where UN agencies and other important international organisations are considering relocation options in Asia, it is a competitive handicap.
This is where the five-year plan consultation becomes an opportunity. Rather than relying on the familiar, vague language about enhancing Hong Kong’s international status, the plan should set out a small number of non-binding, aspirational key performance indicators that signal a new narrative to Beijing and the international community – one of self-initiated ambition by the city.


These indicators could take any number of forms. For example, Hong Kong could increase the number of officially recognised international organisation offices in the city, lure treaty-based organisations to base headquarters or regional offices here, increase the level of local employment with such organisations, and host more international conferences and ministerials each year.
The familiar narrative of Hong Kong as “Asia’s world city” has often leaned on the city’s role as a bridge: between mainland and world, East and West, state and market. In the era of strategic competition and institutional realignment, Hong Kong should explore innovative ways to enhance it.
By embedding a clear international organisation strategy into its first five-year plan, Hong Kong can evolve that narrative. That will do more than bolster Hong Kong’s soft power and diversify its economy beyond finance. It would also give Beijing a distinctive asset at a time when multilateral governance is in flux: a Chinese city that looks outwards, speaks the language of international law and economics, carries out a well-developed rule of law system and offers a stable institutional home to a world that badly needs new anchors.


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Hong Kong politics

Hong Kong has a chance to think bigger about its place in the world

The International Organisation for Mediation’s Hong Kong headquarters at the site of the old Wan Chai Police Station in Wan Chai on May 30, 2025. Photo: Dickson Lee

President Xi Jinping (left) speaks with Chief Executive John Lee at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, on October 31, 2025. Photo: AP

Hong Kong to begin consultation on ‘historic’ first 5-year plan on June 15

A two-month consultation to shape Hong Kong’s first five-year roadmap will begin on June 15, city leader John Lee has confirmed. Photo: May Tse

The first five-year plan is expected to steer Hong Kong’s economy, industry, infrastructure, healthcare and education. Photo: Eugene Lee

The blueprint is designed to align Hong Kong’s economy, land and welfare policies with Beijing’s national strategy. Photo: Edmond So

‘My way or the highway’ is no way to make informed policy for Hong Kong

Chief Executive John Lee listens to views during a 2025 policy address district forum on July 27, 2025. Photo: ISD

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po delivers the budget at the Legislative Council on February 25. Photo: Eugene Lee

Tam Yiu-chung, then vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, speaks at the “one country, two systems” and Basic Law seminar at the Harbour Grand Hong Kong hotel in North Point on November 23, 2023. Photo: Jelly Tse

Hong Kong needs the people’s wisdom for its 5-year plan to succeed

People run along the Island Eastern Corridor in North Point during the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon in 2025, with Lion Rock in the background. Photo: Eugene Lee

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po attends the forum “The 15th Five-Year Plan and New Opportunities for Hong Kong” organised by the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong on April 26. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Opinion

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Hong Kong

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With international organisations moving away from the West, Hong Kong has an opportunity to go beyond being ‘Asia’s World City’ and become a multilateral hub


With international organisations moving away from the West, Hong Kong has an opportunity to go beyond being ‘Asia’s World City’ and become a multilateral hub.


United Nations

International Organisation for Mediation

United States

China

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

New Development Bank

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Hong Kong has a chance to think bigger about its place in the world

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}With international organisations moving away from the West, Hong Kong has an opportunity to go beyond being ‘Asia’s World City’ and become a multilateral hub

With international organisations moving away from the West, Hong Kong has an opportunity to go beyond being ‘Asia’s World City’ and become a multilateral hub