Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu recently revealed that the Task Force on Supporting Mainland Enterprises in Going Global (GoGlobal Task Force), established by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government last year, has assisted over 200 Chinese mainland companies in setting up or expanding operations in Hong Kong as their primary springboard for global expansion. Such significant progress achieved in less than a year not only underscores Hong Kong’s strength, attractiveness, and potential as a superconnector but also indicates that the city’s professional services sector is undergoing a systemic upgrade, expanding from merely facilitating product exports to enabling comprehensive enterprise globalization.
Traditionally, Hong Kong’s intermediary role functioned primarily to channel international capital into the mainland and facilitate the export of mainland products. The establishment of the GoGlobal Task Force marks a strategic leap in Hong Kong’s role. Amid the trend of mainland enterprises going global, the HKSAR government has foreseen a new engine for Hong Kong’s economic growth in providing professional services to facilitate the internationalization of mainland firms.
The “going global” trend is vividly reflected in official data showing that the mainland’s outward direct investment exceeded $190 billion in 2024, representing an annual growth of over 8 percent, which has created strong demand for Hong Kong’s professional services. However, navigating global markets presents substantial challenges to mainland enterprises. In the capacity of an independent nonexecutive director of China Railway Group Ltd, I recently inspected large-scale construction projects in Algeria, Morocco, and Italy. The trip reinforced the notion that mainland enterprises face significant hurdles expanding abroad, including unfamiliar legal frameworks, diverse business cultures, complex compliance requirements, and high trial-and-error costs.
In overcoming these hurdles, Hong Kong and mainland collaboration is a perfect match: Hong Kong’s area of excellence precisely matches the mainland’s needs. The SAR possesses three distinct advantages.
First, its common law system aligns with major global financial hubs, supported by bilingual professionals well-versed in international and mainland business practices.
Traditionally, Hong Kong’s intermediary role functioned primarily to channel international capital into the mainland and facilitate the export of mainland products. The establishment of the GoGlobal Task Force marks a strategic leap in Hong Kong’s role. Amid the trend of mainland enterprises going global, the HKSAR government has foreseen a new engine for Hong Kong’s economic growth in providing professional services to facilitate the internationalization of mainland firms
Second, as a top-tier international financial center, Hong Kong provides robust financial backing necessary for corporate innovation and expansion.
Third, its globally recognized standards and practices in legal, accounting, testing and certification, and intellectual property protection can help mainland enterprises operate in compliance with local regulations, cope with various risks, and build their brands overseas. Consequently, the resultant synergy not only resolves the vulnerabilities that mainland enterprises often face abroad but also drives both quantitative and qualitative growth in Hong Kong’s service sector.
In this context, the successful facilitation of over 200 mainland enterprises’ overseas expansion demonstrates that Hong Kong is evolving beyond a mere logistical transit port into a comprehensive value-added service center. Central to this evolution is the GoGlobal Cross-sectoral Professional Services Platform launched in April, which functions as a precise matching system between Hong Kong’s professional resources and the operational needs of mainland enterprises. This platform actively assists companies in establishing regional headquarters, corporate treasury centers, and research and development facilities. In the process, it strategically plans its international operations in advance and provides essential professional services, ranging from financing to intellectual property protection.
Parallel to this institutional support, Hong Kong enables mainland enterprises to upgrade their operational capabilities, optimize their strategic trajectories, and cultivate global partnerships. By utilizing Hong Kong, these companies do not merely borrow a pathway; they fundamentally enhance their capacity to compete internationally. This trend was further evidenced by the recent Greater Bay Area Global Business Expansion Summit, attended by around 300 business leaders. During the event, major institutions committed to serving as stewards for mainland enterprises’ overseas ventures. Importantly, the summit also sent a clear signal: Beyond large State-owned enterprises, a growing number of small and medium-sized enterprises and technology startups are emerging as the new driving force for global expansion. As these companies progress from initial outbound investment to deep integration and ultimately international market leadership, Hong Kong’s status as the premier springboard will be further consolidated.
On a broader scale, this wave of outbound expansion through Hong Kong highlights the city’s transformation from a prominent city within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a critical node within global industrial, capital, and service supply chains. This strategic repositioning was recently underscored when the chief executive led a large-scale business delegation to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The delegation secured 96 cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding worth over $1.65 billion, spanning finance, innovation and technology, aviation, and green development. Encouragingly, several mainland enterprises that participated in the delegation are now actively preparing to list in Hong Kong, transitioning from temporary users of the city’s services to long-term stakeholders and partners.
To further this collaboration momentum, the HKSAR government is advancing direct flights, visa-free arrangements, and the negotiation of taxation and investment agreements to foster “hub-to-hub” cooperation with Central Asia. This hub-to-hub strategy represents a multidimensional network rather than a simple point-to-point connection. For instance, the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) in Kazakhstan operates on a legal framework based on English common law and features an independent financial court. This structural alignment allows Hong Kong’s legal, accounting, and compliance expertise to seamlessly match with Central Asian enterprises. With the AIFC serving as the gateway to Central Asia and Hong Kong backed by the hinterland of the mainland and Southeast Asia, the alignment of the two hubs is a natural fit. Echoing and complementing each other, they will significantly amplify the broader interconnectivity effect of this hub-to-hub alignment.
The author is vice-chairman of the Committee on Liaison with Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and chairman of the Hong Kong New Era Development Thinktank.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
