Yu Hong

Yu Hong

Senior Research Fellow, East Asian Institute

Dr Yu Hong is a Senior Research Fellow at the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. His research interests cover regional development in China, the Belt and Road initiatives, and the reform of state-owned enterprises. He has published widely on these topics. His research articles have appeared in many internationally refereed journals such as Journal of Contemporary China; Cambridge Review of International Affairs; Asian Survey; Asia Policy; Asian Studies Review; The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies; China: An International Journal and Asian Politics & Policy. Dr Yu has been frequently interviewed by both local and international media outlets on a wide range of topics. He obtained his doctoral degree from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.

People cross an intersection in the Central business district of Hong Kong, China, on 27 February 2024. (Peter Parks/AFP)

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.
Containers are loaded from the railway at the seaport terminal DIT Duisburg Intermodal Terminal at the Duisburg harbour, Germany, on 13 July 2023. With the expansion of rail-bound freight traffic along the "new Silk Road", the port continues to expand its role as a hub or end point of the Silk Road, which connects China and numerous other Asian countries with the Port of Duisburg. (Ina Fassbender/AFP)

Can the US-backed ‘modern spice route’ challenge China’s new Silk Road?

While the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor launched at the recent G20 summit has been touted as a game changer, challenges lie in the way of implementing the plan while China’s ten-year-old BRI continues to be entrenched in global infrastructure networks. EAI senior research fellow Yu Hong shares his views.
An art installation dubbed "Double Ducks", by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, is seen at Victoria Harbour, in Hong Kong, China, 9 June 2023. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Integrating Hong Kong into China's Greater Bay Area: Easier said than done?

Greater prosperity in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area would require greater synergising and complementarity between the core leading cities of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. But this is easier said than done, especially for Hong Kong. EAI senior research fellow Yu Hong explains.
Workers check an electronic system at the Tegalluar station of the China-made high speed railway connecting the capital city of Jakarta with Bandung, in Bandung, West Java on 15 May 2023. (Timur Matahari/AFP)

Why China's BRI is not a debt trap

The solution to developing countries’ ballooning debt arising from borrowing to finance Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and other projects is not to stop the work, as such projects could spur greater economic development and growth, says EAI senior research fellow Yu Hong. Rather, greater transparency and debt sustainability analysis should be applied in relation to BRI debt.
Workers at a construction site for the World Expo Cultural Park in Shanghai, China, on 27 September 2022. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg)

China's slowing economy will not deter BRI outreach

Despite challenges arising from the slowing Chinese economy, China is likely to continue pushing forward on the BRI, it being a key plank of President Xi Jinping’s foreign policy. Along the way, however, it will have to make certain adjustments for a smooth transition into BRI 2.0.
An Electric Multiple Unit high-speed train for a rail link project, which is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, arrives at Tanjung Priok port during load in Jakarta, Indonesia, 2 September 2022. (Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters)

[Future of China] China's ten-year-old BRI needs a revamp

The BRI’s implementation will be slowing down as a result of multiple factors ranging from the global Covid-19 pandemic, the shift in the global geostrategic environment and the Chinese economic slowdown. As it changes its model to suit change, it could focus more on sustainable financing for BRI countries and lower the long-term financial impacts of loans for infrastructure projects. It could also pursue “third-party market cooperation” as a flexible approach in its pursuit of cooperation with other countries under the BRI umbrella. This is the second in a five-part series of articles on the future of China.
Labourers work on the construction site for a school, part of the Iraq-China "oil for construction" deal, in the Sumer neighbourhood of Nasiriyah city, in Iraq's southern Dhi Qar province, on 20 July 2022. (Asaad Niazi/AFP)

[Future of China] China’s BRI seems irreplaceable, for now

East Asian Institute academic Yu Hong analyses the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, an update from the earlier Build Back Better World Initiative. With the aim of mobilising up to US$600 billion over the next five years, it is a much more robust effort to counter China’s BRI. But will such heft be enough? This is the first in a five-part series of articles on the future of China.
A general view of the China-funded Kipevu Oil Terminal at Mombasa Port in Mombasa on 6 January 2022. (AFP)

China wants to win the world over with the BRI, but something's amiss

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has gone beyond just infrastructure projects to other areas such as digital development, health and green energy. In the face of negative perceptions of China, Beijing has sought to show its commitment to forging a multilateral BRI that would generate benefits for all participating countries and not China alone. But do old habits die hard?
A railway worker checks shipping containers at the Altynkol railway station near the Khorgos border crossing point on the border with China in Kazakhstan, 26 October 2021. (Pavel Mikheyev/Reuters)

China's BRI carrots for Central Asia come with potential pitfalls

China-Central Asia relations have been growing for mutually beneficial reasons, and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been a chief conduit of that. Projects have gone beyond just infrastructure to other areas such as health and digital development. But the Central Asian countries will have to navigate possible pitfalls in order to reap the benefits while minimising the threats to national sovereignty and risk of social backlash.