Bernard Chan

Opinion | The world is indeed open to hearing about the real Hong Kong

While the government has urged people to tell the world good stories about Hong Kong, we must be frank about the city’s challenges too

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In an era of great-power rivalry, Hong Kong must carefully navigate the evolving multipolar environment to preserve its unique status and continue thriving. Photo: Eugene Lee

Bernard Chan

Published: 9:30am, 9 Aug 2024

Emerging from the ashes of two devastating world wars, the Salzburg Global Seminar was founded in the summer of 1947, at a pivotal moment when the international order was in flux. Recognising the need to foster greater mutual understanding between nations, the organisation’s founders envisioned a platform for open dialogue and exchange across borders.

In an era marked by rising nationalism, ideological polarisation and great-power rivalry, particularly between China and the United States , such platforms are critical to fostering cross-cultural understanding and exploring collaborative approaches to global problems.

The theme of this year’s Salzburg Global Weekend, held from June 21 to 23, was “Looking East: Confronting Assumptions and Exceptions of East and West in an Unstable and Multipolar World”.

As power and influence become more diffused among major players like China, the US, the European Union and rising regional powers, Hong Kong must carefully navigate the evolving multipolar environment to preserve its unique status and continue thriving.

Almost a hundred delegates from 21 countries covering four continents attended the event. I delivered a keynote address titled “Navigating a New Multipolar Landscape: Hong Kong’s Enduring Relevance”.

Over the past few years, I have learned that many people outside Hong Kong have preconceived ideas about the city in the context of China, and that their opinions are influenced and distorted by seemingly persistent, misleading negative Western media narratives.