Hong Kong needs to be landing place for ‘Pacific Bridge’
Pacific Alliance members – Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru – have combined economy bigger than Russia’s
Hands up if you know who Ollanta Humala is. I will lay large bets that nine out of 10 Hong Kong people don’t have a clue. And I really think this needs to change.
To avoid suspense, Ollanta Humala is the President of Peru. And it is time for us here in Asia to get to know our counterparts in those far distant South American economies.
I have been Peru’s guest in Lima this week, as Humala prepares to preside over the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) group: Peru takes the baton of Apec chairmanship from the Philippines at the end of the year. Since June, Peru has also been chair of the Pacific Alliance, which groups Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru.
It is hardly surprising that we know almost nothing about these economies. It took me a brain-numbing 30 hours to fly to Lima. The choice is to go through Paris or Amsterdam in Europe, or through the appalling Los Angeles airport in the US. Talk to most leading Hong Kong companies – even giant ones like HSBC – and they confess ignorance of the region. They have no – or skeletal – business presence there. Unless you speak Spanish, it is tough to get around.
But surely this ignorance is not acceptable or sustainable? Bundled together, the four Pacific Alliance economies would make the world’s 9th largest economy – 215 million people, and a combined GDP at US$2.12 trillion – bigger than Russia and close to Italy. Asean may be bigger, with 622 million people and a combined GDP of US$2.48 trillion, and it is near and familiar too, but the Pacific Alliance is too big for us to live in ignorance of it.
I must confess I have a bias, because three of the four Pacific Alliance economies are members of Apec, and I spend much of my life working on Apec stuff. But I still think I am right to chide. We in Hong Kong may be ignorant of them, but Beijing certainly is not. Chile and Peru have become important sources of key raw materials like iron ore and copper, on the back of which mainland China’s trade with the region has soared over the past decade. HSBC may be silent there, but the Bank of China certainly is not.