Chen Maobo: Reshaping trade patterns will bring new development opportunities to Hong Kong's trade, shipping, finance, and professional services industries.

According to the Securities Times app, on August 17, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po wrote in his blog that against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions and the reshaping of the international trade landscape and supply chain layout due to the trade war, Hong Kong, as a transit port for goods, has seen double-digit percentage growth in commodity trade in recent months. On the one hand, this partly reflects some exporters rushing to ship goods before the temporary suspension of tariffs, but on the other hand, it also reflects the changing international trade landscape, especially the opportunities brought about by deepening regional trade cooperation. For example, in the first half of this year, Hong Kong's overall goods exports to Vietnam and Malaysia increased by over fifty percent and thirty percent respectively, while the value of goods imported from these two places also increased by approximately seventy percent and thirty percent respectively. In fact, as Hong Kong's second largest trading partner, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) accounted for 12.1% of Hong Kong's total trade in 2021, rising to 14.8% in the first half of this year.