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Going out under the shadow of Red China: the geopolitical origin of Hong Kong’s international status

Going out under the shadow of Red China: the geopolitical origin of Hong Kong’s international status Many scholars would agree that the international status of Hong Kong is one of the crucial factors that contribute to the continued success of Hong Kong. However, few of them explain the origin of Hong Kong’s international status. The purpose of this paper is to fill this literature gap through the case study of Hong Kong’s admission to an international organization – the Asian Development Bank (ADB) – in the late 1960s.Design/methodology/approachBased on declassified archives, a historical approach has been adopted to trace the origin of Hong Kong’s international status.FindingsThe findings suggest that Cold War geopolitics, both local and regional level, explain why Hong Kong, even though remained as a dependent territory of Britain, became a member of an international organization independent from the British influence. While geopolitics at local level incentivized the colonial government to “go out” for external support, geopolitics at the regional level provided an opportunity for Hong Kong to acquire membership of the ADB.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first academic study on the origin of Hong Kong’s international status. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Asian Education and Development Studies Emerald Publishing

Going out under the shadow of Red China: the geopolitical origin of Hong Kong’s international status

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
2046-3162
DOI
10.1108/aeds-02-2018-0033
Publisher site
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Abstract

Many scholars would agree that the international status of Hong Kong is one of the crucial factors that contribute to the continued success of Hong Kong. However, few of them explain the origin of Hong Kong’s international status. The purpose of this paper is to fill this literature gap through the case study of Hong Kong’s admission to an international organization – the Asian Development Bank (ADB) – in the late 1960s.Design/methodology/approachBased on declassified archives, a historical approach has been adopted to trace the origin of Hong Kong’s international status.FindingsThe findings suggest that Cold War geopolitics, both local and regional level, explain why Hong Kong, even though remained as a dependent territory of Britain, became a member of an international organization independent from the British influence. While geopolitics at local level incentivized the colonial government to “go out” for external support, geopolitics at the regional level provided an opportunity for Hong Kong to acquire membership of the ADB.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first academic study on the origin of Hong Kong’s international status.

Journal

Asian Education and Development Studies – Emerald Publishing

Published: Mar 28, 2019

Keywords: Cold war geopolitics; Asian development bank; International status of Hong Kong

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