Seldom has the world’s attention been as fixed on the question of governance as it is today. Domestically, governments are grappling with economic turbulence, environmental degradation, employment pressures, energy insecurity, educational disparities, elder care, ethnic tensions, and more. Globally, issues like climate change, sustainable development, AI penetration, and nuclear nonproliferation necessitate strong mechanisms for international governance. The Sino-U.S. relationship, the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world, has drastically deteriorated over the past few years.
The Centre on Contemporary China and the World (CCCW) at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) is launching at this critical juncture. More than ever, Hong Kong marks the optimal location for a global hub focused on studying the governance of China and the world. It is a cosmopolitan city, a historical anomaly, a crossroads of cultural influence, a melting pot of traditions, a longstanding financial center, and a bridge within China to the Greater Bay Area. Above all, Hong Kong is a city with subtle but genuine leverage to shape international discourse.
Our newly founded Centre has an historic opportunity to secure a distinct position in the think tank landscape. The restraints on cross-border academic exchanges and the constraints of siloed research and public policy debates in some corners of the world create a need for a new vantage at the frontier of Sino-U.S. relations. At a time when neither governments nor businesses alone can ensure the bilateral relationship stays on track, people-to-people diplomacy, including Track II dialogues organized by university-based think tanks, has become essential to resolving misunderstandings and managing persistent antagonism.
The CCCW builds on a prodigious foundation at HKU — its internationally renowned faculty, its high-caliber and diverse student body, and its remarkable tradition of academic vigor. By drawing together a large pool of researchers from all over the world, including affiliated fellows appointed from the HKU faculty, prominent nonresident and post-doctoral fellows, the Distinguished Visiting Fellows Programme, and the Young Global China Scholars Programme, the CCCW will house dozens of scholars from varied academic disciplines and a diverse range of values. The CCCW is strategically positioned to serve as an institutional home for interdisciplinary and international collaboration.
With this convergence of talent across geographies, disciplines, and perspectives, the CCCW aspires to develop new narratives, innovative toolkits, and balanced modalities in scholarly research to address the unprecedented challenges of governance in our time. Initial directions of research for the Centre span five areas: 1) science and technology transformation; 2) climate change and alternative energy; 3) economic and financial reforms; 4) political leadership and generational transition; and 5) geopolitical landscape change, with an emphasis on the Sino-U.S. relationship.
Through the CCCW’s monographs and other publications, public forums, private roundtables, and frequent media commentaries, CCCW scholars will strive, collectively, to produce comprehensive research work with demonstrable originality, accessibility, quality, intensity, and creativity.
Hong Kong can and should serve as a key lever in the next phase of Sino-U.S. relations and, more broadly, East-West and South-North integrations. The CCCW’s vision and mission are to become a leading voice of reason, a much-needed bridge for mutual understanding, and most importantly, a prominent constructive force for maintaining peace across the Pacific and around the world.
