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China's Entry into the WTO and the Impact on Hong Kong Business

About the Project

In May 1999, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the largest business organization in Hong Kong with over 4000 corporate members, decided to begin a major project titled: "China's Entry into the WTO and the Impact on Hong Kong Business".

To do that, nine working groups of Chamber members were set up, in Banking, chaired by David Wong of Dah Sing Bank; Insurance, chaired by David Ruan of AXA; Investments, chaired by Robert Xie of Simplex Capital Asia; Professional Services, chaired by K K Yeung of K K Yeung Management Consultants; Retail and Distribution, chaired by Stanley Ko of Jardine Pacific; Technology, chaired by Lily Chiang of Chen Hsong; Telecommunications, chaired by Norman Yuen of Cable and Wireless HKT; Textiles and Clothing, chaired by Christopher Cheng of Wing Tai; and Trading, chaired by Hans Michael Jebsen of Jebsen & Co, with members volunteering to be in groups of their interest and expertise. (Appendix I)

In the subsequent eight months, the working groups deliberated and debated on how China's entry into the WTO would affect business in their sector. In the end, thanks to the leadership of the nine working group chairmen, over 100 participants, using what they understood to be the terms of agreement between China and the United States (Appendix II) -- which would likely form the bulk of the final agreement with all WTO members, met to offer insights from their business experiences, submitted to personal interviews by the secretariat, and answered survey questions. From time to time, other Chamber members also gave us their views. The secretariat took in all the input, and together with extensive research on the Internet, helped the working group members put together each report. The final product consists of an executive summary and the nine working group reports - which contain the generally accepted views of the participants - on sector-by-sector impact.  (The additional commitments the European Union subsequently obtain from China do not affect the findings and conclusions of this report.)

Each of the reports contains an assessment of the current situation in China, the opportunities for Hong Kong after China gets into the WTO, the challenges facing businesses, what they can do to prepare themselves, and what the SAR Government could do to help them take advantage of the opportunities and face the challenges.