Editorial | Hong Kong must pull out all the stops to join regional trade pact

If there is a jewel missing from Hong Kong’s crown as super-connector to the Chinese economy for the rest of the world, it is membership in its own right of the world’s biggest free-trade pact – the Asia-Pacific-based Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

RCEP, as it is known, covers nearly a third of the world’s population and about 30 per cent of global gross domestic product. It consists of the Asean nations plus Asean free-trade partners China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, all major trading partners of Hong Kong.

Membership would give a sustained boost to Hong Kong’s recovery from the economic damage of the Covid years, so far focused on attracting businesses, talent and tourists. At a Hong Kong-Asean summit last November organised by the Post, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-shiu predicted the city would soon join the pact. It is a goal the government has been working on since.

It got a welcome boost last week when China’s foreign policy chief Wang Yi threw his weight behind Hong Kong’s bid at a Southeast Asian foreign ministers’ meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Analysts say Wang’s support for the city’s entry to the 15-nation group will be positive for Lee’s business talks on a visit to three countries in the region later this month. But it should also prompt the government to step up its efforts to gain RCEP membership.