Lee’s Silk Road caravan has high expectations

Chief Executive (CE) John Lee Ka-chiu’s 60-strong trade delegation from Hong Kong and the mainland to Central Asia next month will lift the near isolated states to the world markets.

Hong Kong will be the super- connector, offering its internationally renowned financial services as a fundraising platform to ease the flow of trade between central and east Asia and to the rest of the world. And it will be a super value-added delegation with the CE leading a delegation that, for the first time, combines Hong Kong’s finance, legal, and logistics firms with mainland energy, mining, and pharma companies. This Hong Kong + Mainland model is likely be a forerunner to future trade missions actively packaging cross-border deals, providing project structuring, risk management, and post-investment services.

The target destinations are Kazakhstan (bordering China at its north) and Uzbekistan (at its south) but were recognised in 2013 as being an integral part of the cog in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The two countries are both Hong Kong's key trading partners in Central Asia, taking up 59.7 per cent and 13.2 per cent of Hong Kong's total exports respectively to the area.

Hong Kong’s cooperation with Central Asia gathered pace last week when Hong Kong and Kazakhstan officially established a comprehensive framework for cross-border criminal justice, signing three major bilateral agreements on Friday that govern the extradition of fugitives, mutual legal assistance in criminal investigations, and the transfer of prisoners.

China’s deepening ties with Kazakhstan have provided a strong incentive for Hong Kong to extend its reach to Central Asia, especially after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Kazakhstan last year, which elevated bilateral relations to new heights. During that visit Xi promoted high-quality belt and road cooperation, pledged 1.5 billion yuan (US$209 million) towards livelihood and development projects in the region and signed a landmark permanent friendship pact.

In 2024, Kazakhstan attracted US$6.2 billion in investment from the mainland, taking up 52 per cent of what Beijing poured into Central Asia, while Uzbekistan drew US$2.2 billion.

According to statistics from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Hong Kong, meanwhile, exported US$313.4 million worth of goods – mostly telecommunications equipment and computers – to Central Asia last year, while imports from the region totalled just US$10.3 million. In 2025, more than 35.5 per cent of Hong Kong’s exports to the region were telecommunications equipment, and 16.4 per cent were computers, while apparatus and semiconductors made up 6.1 and 5.7 per cent respectively.

However, local economists have warned that as Central Asian economies were still developing, it might take time for Hong Kong to realise significant economic gains.

Kazakhstan is also leveraging Hong Kong's financial advantages to develop fintech and digital assets. Hong Kong is expected to focus on aviation, by introducing direct passenger and cargo flights to the region, as well as offering its professional financial services to companies who seek to raise funds for their ventures.

Hong Kong could also assist Central Asian businesses by providing regional logistics management and distribution hub services, advising them on international trade compliance and quality control, while connecting firms to clients in the Greater Bay Area and Southeast Asia.

Kazakhstan’s consul general in Hong Kong, Bauyrzhan Dosmanbetov, has been a driving force behind the Hong Kong/China mission to the Central Asian countries. In an interview with the local press, he said the lack of direct flights was currently the only missing piece in an otherwise rapidly growing puzzle of cooperation, pledging to make flight resumption a key priority for the consulate. He added that his government is in talks with major carriers over direct flights between the country and Hong Kong.

Kazakhstan aims to deepen its financial services cooperation with Hong Kong, viewing it as an ideal fundraising hub to access renminbi capital through bond issuances.

Dosmanbetov said Kazakhstan was also very interested in offshore renminbi trading, given it had a lot of projects with mainland China and needed the currency.

He added that Hong Kong, which had abundant capital, served as an ideal fundraising hub. “Hong Kong is the only financial and stock exchange hub within six hours flight to our country. It is the closest one,” he said.

He said there was also a notable 30 to 40 per cent increase in inquiries from Hong Kong logistics firms looking to make use of the Middle Corridor to mitigate risks. The Middle Corridor, previously known in the days of Marco Polo as the Silk Road, is a multimodal logistics route that connects China and Europe via Kazakhstan in Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the South Caucasus, the Caspian Sea and Turkey.

From the perspective of Uzbekistan, the BRI could help open the corridor to the Persian Gulf, enabling expansion of commercial and trade routes for the country. Exporting Uzbek goods to more regions is a highly attractive incentive for Uzbekistan. At the First Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing May 2017 both presidents, Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan and Xi, spoke positively of future collaboration in BRI advancement. During those meetings, the two countries signed 115 deals worth more than $23 billion on enhancing their cooperation in electrical power, oil production, chemicals, architecture, textiles, pharmaceutical engineering, transportation, infrastructure and agriculture. In 2019 Uzbekistan established a new government group in charge of aligning their own country's development plan with China's BRI ambitions. China is Uzbekistan's largest trade partner (both in imports and exports) and has more than 1,500 Chinese businesses within its territory.

In preparation for this large trade mission, the sherpas must already be in the Central Asian countries firming up deals, ready for signatures from the heads of industry and government officials thus laying the groundwork for the future as a hedge against the uncertainties arising from the Israeli/Palestine/Iran/Ukraine/Russian conflicts.

Mark Pinkstone

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

When China’s Paramount Leader Deng Xiao Ping floated the idea of one country two systems for the future of Hong Kong, the west scoffed at the possibility of a communist regime and a capitalist bastion living hand in hand. Some 29 years later the prophets of doom were proven wrong as Hong Kong is now more prosperous than ever and it’s future will be more so.

For more than 150 years Hong Kong lived under a British colonial rule. There was no democracy, only authoritarian management. The succession of ruling governors were hand-picked by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and appointed by the Prime Minister, without any consultation with the people of Hong Kong.

But the people of Hong Kong didn’t mind. If they had never seen democracy, how could they miss it. The governors were diplomats and their upper-crust training ensured that the natives were happy and that their rice bowls were filled. The diplomats got on well with the Chinese government as they knew that harmony was the key component to a successful relationship.

Then came along a politician for the first time to run Hong Kong in the name of Chris Patten, who had lost his seat in the Bath electorate, about 156 km west of London. John Major was Prime Minister at the time and a good friend of Patten. So, to make up for the political loss in Bath, Major offered Patten the cushy job of being governor of Hong Kong.

In 1992 Patten and his family arrived in Hong Kong and as a typical politician, he arrived like a bull in a china shop (pun intended). There was no diplomacy involved. Patten and Major had decided that the foreign office diplomats were pussy-footing with the Chinese during the previous decade negotiating Hong Kong’s future and a firmer stand was necessary.

Unlike his predecessors, Patten knew nothing of Chinese traditions and customs. He just could not understand Chinese mentality and that applied not only to the mainlanders but also the local Chinese. The East is East and the West is West and never the twain shall meet wrote poet Rudyard Kipling in 1889. But, in Hong Kong they did.

The Joint Declaration between Great Britain and China on the future of Hong Kong and the subsequent Basic Law (Hong Kong’s mini constitution) provided the pathway for Hong Kong’s future, including democratic elections for the city’s legislative council. But Patten was impatient and decided to introduce a fully elected legislature in 1995 immediately before the handover in 1997. This infuriated the Chinese-side, and they provided for a provisional legislature to replace Patten’s council as soon as Hong Kong was reverted to Beijing’s administration.

After 1997, Hong Kong formed its first directly elected Legislative Council in 1998, while the Chief Executive is elected by an Election Committee — a system similar to the U.S. presidential election. Hong Kong's Election Committee now has 1,500 members, whereas the U.S. Electoral College has only 538 members.

Since then, Hong Kong has flourished. The prophets of doom and Kipling were wrong. Despite many attempts by the west to dismantle the Deng formula Hong Kong is one of the most successful places on the planet. Year after year it is breaking records to the envy of many. Hong Kong has secured third place in the Global Financial Centres Index. In the latest World Competitiveness Ranking, Hong Kong's position has risen one spot further to rank second globally. And in the World Talent Ranking, Hong Kong has moved up 10 places to rank the fourth globally and the first in Asia. Hong Kong also continues to come first as the world's freest economy. And Hong Kong has what many want – stability.

The Hong Kong formula is unique and successful. Never tried before, it was seen as an experiment and the world was watching, waiting for it to fail. But the Hong Kong people are resourceful and will take any challenge head on. There is no failure.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), established under the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Constitution, has maintained the previous capitalist system and way of life. Its common law system continues to operate, and it enjoys the free flow of people, capital, data, goods and more. The vibrancy and prosperity of the central government has always been Hong Kong's strongest backing.

Hong Kong’s 29th birthday under the PRC guidance, coincides with the 105th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China. Naturally there have been celebrations all round, and justifiably so. Both Hong Kong and the central government are proud of what they have achieved. And both, particularly in the past year have taken top ranking as the preferred place in the world to trust and to do business.

Chief Executive John Lee, at a celebratory function on July 1 summed it up with: “Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient, will ride the wave of flourishing national development and sail with the wind, steering towards a brighter and more prosperous future!”

And the future is being mapped out in Hong Kong’s first five-year plan, currently under consultation with the public. The plan, a road map for future leaders to follow, will include a futuristic block of land, one third of Hong Kong’s total, to house high tech innovative research and development facilities with university, hospital and new town ancillary services. This Northern Metropolis straddles the river that acts as the boundary between Hong Kong and neighboring Shenzhen, with bridges linking the two; further proof that Hong Kong is an integral part of China.