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Janet Pau
Janet Pau is executive director of the Asia Business Council. Previously, she was director of The Economist Group's Corporate Network in Hong Kong, program director of the Asia Business Council, and manager at Kearney’s Global Business Policy Council in Washington D.C. She is co-author of the book "Through the Eyes of Tiger Cubs: Views of Asia’s Next Generation". She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and Master in Public Policy from Harvard University.
Staying ahead will require diversifying in hi-tech sectors, boosting workforce resilience and advancing sustainable supply chains.
Asian countries may suffer setbacks in their manufacturing ambitions if they aren’t able to produce more sustainably from the start and decarbonise rapidly.
Cooperation among the Global South has enabled developing economies to help each other through knowledge and technology transfers. Using this approach to address the digital infrastructure gap and build a highly skilled workforce can keep emerging countries from falling further behind.
The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and Thailand have benefited from global supply chain diversification and are poised to capitalise on their large labour pool and potential consumer market to reach the next level of development.
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Hong Kong must capitalise on the Greater Bay Area, Belt and Road Initiative and focus on ‘sweet spot’ sectors where China and other regions seek better cooperation.
For all the talk of the benefits reshoring and ‘de-risking’ can bring domestic workers, they also introduce new risks to people’s way of life. Neither the US nor China can afford to ignore these new risks, including limited job creation, expensive subsidies and greater material costs.
Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan have managed to hold their own against developed economies in other regions for decades. However, amid geopolitical fragmentation, game-changing technological advancements and social divisions, they need to adapt quickly.
Hong Kong has long been a service-based economy reliant on finance, tourism, trade logistics and professional services. But as the Chinese economy shifts towards domestic consumption, Hong Kong must change too, to maintain healthy economic and job growth
A decade ago, Asia’s millennials were optimistic the region would set aside conflicts and become more united to meet global challenges such as climate change. Today’s Generation Z, who grew up amid rising geopolitical tensions and major economic disruptions, are no longer so hopeful.
Ties with the mainland were invaluable in reviving the city’s economy after 2003, but the rise of competitors means Hong Kong can’t take that for granted now. A post-pandemic rebound will take not just mainland ties but integrating into new global supply chains and rebuilding the city’s international image.
As Asian economies face recession worries, many are putting climate action on the back burner – but climate resilience goes hand in hand with economic stability. Setting ambitious energy and sustainability targets supports green growth.
Women’s wages and workforce participation have dropped since the start of the pandemic, while their unpaid duties have increased. But women are indispensable to Hong Kong’s future growth; closing the wage gap, while providing more support at home, can pave their re-entry to the workforce.
After its mishandling of Omicron, Hong Kong needs a programme of damage control to regain investor confidence and bring back stability. That means building economic resilience, strengthening networks for trade and talent, and putting substance behind claims of being a world city.
The interconnectedness that global cities once prized risks being dismantled as Covid-19 lingers on. The success of cities might no longer be based on their external connectedness but rather on how flexible they are in constant uncertainty.
Holding one or two premier events with visitors from low-risk locations will boost confidence and cement Hong Kong’s status as a hub for safe meetings.
Hong Kong is the fastest-ageing economy in the world, and has the lowest population share of children under 14. The city faces a grim economic fate, unless the older and younger generations can work together to change the growth model.
Hong Kong’s youth and its middle class no longer believe in upward mobility and see little but more competition ahead. Facing economic insecurity and disconnect from older generations, they turn to protests as a way of belonging.
Hong Kong must trim its dependence on its services sector, accelerate research and development, and open up new growth paths — and key to its economic survival are its fundamental values of personal and judicial freedoms.
Given the hostile investment environment overseas, it’s time for Chinese tech players to go back to the Greater Bay Area and focus on winning the global race for technological supremacy from its home base.
As the trade war and a US report raise questions about how Hong Kong will be treated, it must strengthen its role as a guardian of global norms by safeguarding the rule of law, intellectual property protections, financial market expertise and academic freedom.
Hong Kong is behind its Asian neighbours in how well it is preparing for artificial intelligence, as well as how flexibly its job market will respond to automation.
