With international organisations moving away from the West, Hong Kong has an opportunity to go beyond being ‘Asia’s World City’ and become a multilateral hub
3-MIN READ3-MINBryan LukBryan Luk is programme director of the Asia Pacific Focus at the Institute for Greater China Studies. Published: 9:30am, 18 Jun 2026The Hong Kong government has launched a public consultation on the city’s first five-year development plan, a blueprint aimed at aligning with China’s newly approved 15th five-year plan. Officials have promised a “macroscopic, strategic and forward-looking” road map that will guide Hong Kong’s economic and social development for the rest of this decade.That invitation to think in five-year horizons is precisely why Hong Kong must now think bigger about its place in the world – not only as “Asia’s world city” but as a serious contender to become Asia’s multilateral hub.A quiet but profound shift is under way in the architecture of global governance. It is not the product of a grand design but of a vacuum.
