Financial Centre

Can Hong Kong’s economy thrive under China’s tightening grip?

As Beijing tightens its grip under the national security law, Hong Kong’s vaunted economic freedom faces a crucial test. Academic Toru Kurata examines how the Northern Metropolis plan and a push for high-tech growth could reshape the city’s future.

Toru Kurata

24 Oct 2025

Hong Kong makes a comeback as an international financial centre

As part of Lianhe Zaobao’s “Seeing the New Hong Kong” series, marking five years since the enactment of Hong Kong’s national security law, associate China news editor Fok Yit Wai takes a look at Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre. Will the city be able to grasp new opportunities amid the China-US rivalry and the mainland’s crackdown on several sectors?

Fok Yit Wai

02 Jul 2025

The CATL effect: Can a battery giant power Hong Kong’s stock market revival?

Battery giant CATL’s record-breaking secondary listing in Hong Kong marks a turning point for the city’s capital markets. Will Hong Kong be able to re-establish itself as an international financial centre? Lianhe Zaobao’s China Desk finds out more.

China Desk, Lianhe Zaobao

21 May 2025

How Hong Kong reclaimed its spot as Asia’s top financial centre

A US Congress bill threatens to curtail the privileges of Hong Kong’s trade offices in the US if they are not deemed to have a “high degree of autonomy” from Beijing. This could hurt Hong Kong’s economic attractiveness, but the special administrative region still has some fundamentals it can rely on, says EAI senior research fellow Yu Hong.

Yu Hong

11 Oct 2024

Is the Hong Kong economy really in demise?

While naysayers have painted a doomsday scenario for Hong Kong since the plummeting of the Hang Seng Index, EAI senior research fellow Yu Hong points to Hong Kong's strong fundamentals, the vitality of the Greater Bay Area and the knock-on effects of the recovery of the mainland economy. He notes that as long as the mainland economy continues to grow, the Hong Kong stock market will remain attractive to regional and global investors.

Yu Hong

18 Mar 2024

Chinese netizens: Hong Kong now an international financial centre 'heritage site'

Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre is now a thing of the past as multinational corporations withdraw from the city and its stock market shows signs of foreign capital outflows. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Tai Hing Shing finds out if Hong Kong's financial market is truly on its way down.

Tai Hing Shing

07 Dec 2023

President Xi's Shanghai visit: China yet to find a way out for its economy

This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Shanghai, China's largest financial centre, has sent strong signals of the leadership's emphasis on the country's economic development. And it is clear from the itinerary the importance the higher-ups are placing on the three areas of finance, technology and livelihood. Nonetheless, Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong notes more research needs to be done before the introduction of more powerful policies that can turn the tide of the sluggish economy.

Han Yong Hong

01 Dec 2023

Web 3.0 should be a network to create and maintain a global community of shared future

Hong Kong and Singapore can and should leverage their position as international financial and technological hubs to help build an inclusive and fair digital global network that brings people all over the world together for a more equitable and mutually-beneficial collaboration and development, says academic Pei Sai Fan.

Pei Sai Fan

17 Oct 2023

Hong Kong no longer the 'East-meets-West' financial hub of yesteryear

Hong Kong's stock market has taken a beating recently, with the number of IPOs and trade volumes in a slump. Amid the different factors causing the poor performance, including the economic situation in mainland China, analysts believe that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's long-running focus on the West and oversight of Southeast Asia needs to be addressed. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Liu Sha finds out more.

Liu Sha

25 Aug 2023

Will an investment summit revive Hong Kong's status as a financial hub?

This week's Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit in Hong Kong was an effort by the Hong Kong government to restore its position as a financial hub, which has been somewhat weakened due to China's pandemic measures and other global responses. But despite John Lee's optimistic address at the summit, the actual situation appears to be less than rosy, with several adopting a wait-and-see attitude.

China Desk, Lianhe Zaobao

04 Nov 2022

Breaking the ice in the China-US audit standoff

In a preliminary agreement, US officials will get their long-sought access to vet accounting companies based in mainland China and Hong Kong and review audit documents related to Chinese businesses. Will this stem the tide of Chinese companies being delisted from US stock exchanges?

Caixin Global

02 Sep 2022

Countdown to CCP's 20th Party Congress: Financial technocrats in the post-1970s generation

Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, notes that China's emergence as an economic powerhouse has been accompanied by the rise to prominence of seasoned financial technocrats or self-taught experts. While these "new kids on the block" will most likely enter the new CCP Central Committee this fall for the first time, time will tell how they will respond to the many daunting economic and financial challenges at both the provincial and national levels.

Li Cheng

11 Aug 2022