In the midst of a fascinating discussion last week with what may best be called a group of concerned Hong Kong citizens, one friend threw out a surprising question: “What role might Hong Kong play in terms of the US-China conflict ?” My first response was that it was a preposterous question. When elephants are fighting, the first and most responsible reflex of minnows like us should be to keep well out of the way. After the terrible traumas of last year’s protests, this year’s national security law controversy and the huge challenges of tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and the massive harm it has inflicted on the lives of so many people, many might say there are far too many crises to manage at home for us to inject ourselves into other people’s arguments. As the conversation continued, though, I felt a more nuanced response was needed. Perhaps Hong Kong does have a role to play. Perhaps it has no choice. Having been targeted for sanctions because of the national security law and pressured to say its exports are made in China rather than Hong Kong, the city has some principled positions it must defend at all costs – not least its autonomous status in the World Trade Organization and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum. Anyway, the global economic contest that has continued over the past three years has been less a US-China conflict and more a US-versus-everyone-else conflict. China has come to represent a uniquely hateable bogeyman for the United States, but China is far from alone as a target for US venom. Trade conflicts with the European Union , Japan, South Korea, India and others have simmered in the past three years. Trade and investment sanctions have been thrown at countries such as Iran. The anger of Canada and Mexico was palpable when the United States put tariffs on their exports of steel, aluminium and cars on the grounds that these long-standing allies were seen as a national security threat. Vietnamese exporters are also facing trade sanctions. Vietnam’s trade surplus with the US has surged as many international companies exporting to the US have shifted some operations from China. These include American companies that are under pressure to reshore operations to the US from China but instead have decamped to Vietnam. Hong Kong is in good company in its concerns about US behaviour in international trade, and not just because of the difficulties from sanctions over the national security law. Hong Kong also has an important role to play in demonstrating to the world that China – however unappealing its political system and its attitude to human rights are – is not an evil empire. Even though we are part of China, we remain a cherished home to many of China’s better angels. The personal freedoms and rigorous autonomy of Hong Kong’s legal system still contrast sharply with legal processes on the mainland. The characteristics of pragmatism, flexibility, commitment to small government and openness to international businesses and professionals that set Hong Kong apart from the mainland remain firmly entrenched. They are being tolerated and sometimes encouraged by Beijing as it seeks to build closer linkages between Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. A critically important role that Hong Kong must continue to demonstrate to the world is that the promised high level of autonomy and practical respect for “one country, two systems” remains in place and is respected. Beijing needs to respect it, and the US and other international sceptics need to be open minded enough to acknowledge it. A final critical role Hong Kong needs to play is that of an unapologetic champion of multilateral cooperation and deference to the workings of multilateral institutions. The biggest single threat to all of us in Asia and further afield has been the “America first” belief system that has prompted the US to abandon its long-held role as architect and champion of multilateral cooperation. Loyalty pledge required for new Hong Kong civil servant hires Its sudden decision to embrace a unilateral, transactional approach to its trade and political relationships across the world has been ruinous worldwide and needs to be reversed as speedily as possible. Few economies are better placed than Hong Kong to fight for – and demonstrate the merits of – multilateral cooperation than Hong Kong. If there is any single role the city should strive to fill in the US-China conflict, it should be this. For decades, Hong Kong has punched above its weight in the WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. At a regional level, it has been a significant positive force in Apec. Like so many other small economies, we recognise the dangerous vulnerability of a world shaped by unilateral arm-wrestling. Forging time-consuming compromises across large numbers of countries and acknowledging, respecting and taking proper account of legitimate differences of priority and opinion is at the heart of multilateral cooperation. For anyone who has been exposed to the ordeal of reaching compromises and the often-glacial pace of progress towards agreements, it can be frustrating. Like democracy, though, it is the worst possible process except every other one we have tried. Unilateralism may suit dictators and a small, lucky group of globally powerful economies, but for the vast majority of the other countries around the world, it inevitably leads to subordination to the whim and will of the world’s economic giants. In the midst of the terrible US-China economic conflict and the US unilateralism that has jeopardised the global institutions built around multilateral cooperation, there can be no more important role for Hong Kong than to remind Beijing and Washington that we should stand up for and strengthen the multilateral institutions and processes that have served us well during the past 70 years. This is a valuable role that even a minnow can play. David Dodwell researches and writes about global, regional and Hong Kong challenges from a Hong Kong point of view