"Sailing Together" – Beyond Services, Setting International Standards

Chief Executive John Lee is leading a sizeable 70-member delegation to the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, actively exploring business opportunities.

The delegation comprised 40 representatives from Hong Kong's business, trade, and professional sectors, alongside 30 representatives from Chinese Mainland enterprises. This is not the first time mainland companies have joined a Hong Kong overseas delegation. In May last year, the Chief Executive led a trade delegation of over 50 people to Qatar and Kuwait in the Middle East — and mainland enterprises participated then, too.

The heads of three major company from the Chinese Mainland stood out on this trip.

The first is Yun Penggang, Chairman of Inner Mongolia Energy Group — a provincial state-owned enterprise of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region integrating new energy, thermal power, coal, and engineering.

The second is Yao Chenpeng, Vice President of Transfar Group, a major private enterprise holding a leading position in specialty chemicals and integrated industrial services.

The third is Wei Haigang, General Manager of GAC International — GAC being a large municipal state-owned enterprise that is not only a major domestic automaker, but also provides integrated vehicle and components solutions.

Among these three, Transfar Group established its international management center in Hong Kong last year to handle tax, overseas contracts, and trade matters. GAC Group has long maintained an office in Hong Kong and, in recent years, has been vigorously promoting the sales of its electric vehicle brand, AION, in the city.

During the Chief Executive's conversations with the heads of these three groups, he spoke of Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland enterprises "sailing together." Hong Kong opens the main gate; the mainland companies open the side doors — and together, they sail toward success. The mainland enterprise representatives acknowledged that having Hong Kong's endorsement is a real boost to their overseas business.

Most Hong Kong people may not feel a strong connection to Chinese Mainland enterprises "going global" — it can seem unrelated to their lives. The reality is, a major industry closely tied to Hong Kong sits at the heart of this story: producer services. China's manufacturing value-added accounts for 30% of the global total. It is the only country in the world with full coverage across all 41 major categories, over 200 mid-level categories, and over 600 sub-categories of manufacturing industries.

China has evolved from simple, labor-intensive industries into high-end, precision-driven advanced manufacturing. China's domestic market is among the world's most competitive — companies that have made their mark at home stand a strong chance of succeeding abroad. The era of large-scale Chinese corporate expansion overseas has arrived. Hong Kong is well-placed to play a strong supporting role.

Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, who oversees Hong Kong affairs, made a pointed remark during a meeting with Hong Kong members of the CPPCC in March last year. Hong Kong, he said, should vigorously develop its producer services industry to bolster the international competitiveness of the nation's industries.

Hong Kong’s goal: build a high-caliber producer and professional services center — one that serves Chinese Mainland enterprises and supports them in using the Hong Kong platform to attract investment and break into international markets.

Hong Kong is, in fact, already deeply engaged in producer services. The city's service sector is highly developed, accounting for 93.5% of local GDP. Producer services — encompassing finance, trade, logistics, and professional services — are already the economic backbone, contributing over 40% of GDP and generating output of approximately HK$1.5 to 1.6 trillion.

Beyond the well-known financial and logistics sectors, Hong Kong's professional services supporting commerce and industry are equally well-developed — spanning law, accounting, engineering, and surveying. These fields should not be underestimated. As Chinese Mainland enterprises venture into international markets, they will need to draw on exactly these capabilities.

Producer services are also a key national development priority. Last year's Central Economic Work Conference called for expanding and upgrading the service sector, advancing producer services toward greater specialization and higher positions in the value chain, and deepening integration with advanced manufacturing and modern agriculture.

The numbers tell the story: China's producer services sector grew in added value from RMB 19.8 trillion in 2016 to RMB 41.1 trillion in 2024 — a compound annual growth rate of 9.5% — with its share of GDP rising from 26.6% to 30.5%.

The development potential for producer services is vast — both on the Chinese Mainland and in Hong Kong — especially as Chinese enterprises go global. Hong Kong can provide them with a full range of professional services, helping them adapt to international standards across industries. Better still, Hong Kong can help the nation shape entirely new international standards.

Consider China's supercharged infrastructure capabilities and its globally dominant "new three" industries — solar energy, lithium batteries, and electric vehicles. Hong Kong is perfectly positioned to help the country establish international standards in these areas and push them into foreign markets.

Take electric vehicles: China accounts for 60% of global EV sales. Why, then, should Chinese companies still be expected to follow Western-defined standards when entering international markets?

That is precisely why the nation brought automotive, new energy, and specialty chemicals enterprises along on Hong Kong's Central Asia delegation. The goal goes beyond helping state-owned enterprises explore new markets. It goes beyond generating more producer services business for Hong Kong.

The real target is higher: establishing a set of international standards more favorable to China for its key emerging industries — new energy, electric vehicles, and advanced chemicals — and breaking free from the West's dominance over "international standards."

There was a time when even a single screw in Hong Kong had to conform to British standards and be sourced from British suppliers. That era is long gone.

Lo Wing-hung

Bastille Commentary

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

American officials used to preach the "rules-based international order" at every turn. That phrase now sounds like a punchline. Add one word and it tells the truth: an international order based on American rules.

The World Cup has produced a scandal, and the United States is at the center of it. In the Round of 32 on July 1, the US beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0. But star striker Folarin Balogun stepped on an opponent's heel and picked up a red card. FIFA rules say a red card triggers a one-match ban. That should have kept Balogun out of the Round of 16 clash with Belgium on July 6.

The New York Times reports that Donald Trump got personally involved. He called FIFA President Gianni Infantino the same day. Trump argued the red card was controversial and pressed FIFA to reconsider the suspension.

FIFA folded, but with a twist. On July 5, the governing body confirmed Balogun had violated Articles 14 and 26 of its Disciplinary Code and handed down a one-match ban. Then it invoked Article 27, which allows disciplinary measures to be suspended in full or in part, to defer the ban for a year. Balogun was free to keep playing through the rest of the tournament.

The backlash was immediate and global. Trump, unmoved by the criticism, thanked FIFA for making the "correct decision" and for "correcting a grave injustice."

Belgium did not take it quietly. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, a former referee himself, said he had spent his career upholding fair rulings. He put it bluntly: "If a phone call truly underpins this incomprehensible decision, then it amounts to undermining the most fundamental rules of football and sport." Belgium's head coach, Rudi Garcia, was even sharper. "I didn’t know that July 5 was equal to April 1 at FIFA," he said, adding that his complaint wasn't about defending Belgium or attacking FIFA. It was about "defending in football".

Other national teams piled on. England manager Thomas Tuchel asked the question everyone was thinking: "Where does this precedent begin, and where does it end?" His point cuts to the core of the scandal. Power and influence can now override sporting judgment, and a single phone call from a global superpower was enough to erase the idea of fair competition.

Maybe football still has a sense of justice. On July 6, Balogun started despite his dirty play, but Belgium still thrashed the United States 4-1. The score itself felt like a curse, a brutal callback to the tournament's own April Fool's farce.

There was a time when the United States looked both powerful and admirable, a country that was simply always right. I grew up watching American Westerns, the kind starring Clint Eastwood, where heroic cowboys gunned down "Indians" cast as savage and brutal. Even the word "Indians" carries that discrimination baked in, reducing Native Americans to "redskins". Those films erased a brutal history: European colonizers massacring Indigenous peoples across the Americas with superior weapons.

Seize the land, wipe out the people, then cast yourself as the hero. American ideology in a nutshell. Turning bloody history into entertainment and exporting it to the world is something only the United States has pulled off this well, and Hong Kong has not been spared its influence.

At the height of American power, even scandals got repackaged as virtues, seamless and airtight. That is no longer the case. As US power declines and its position weakens, the cracks are showing everywhere. A president meddling in a football ruling has now become global news. Similar things likely happened before, when America's power was unquestioned, but back then nobody dared expose them.

Lo Wing-hung