Following the 2026 formation of the Committee on AI+ and listings of China's “AI tigers,” Hong Kong is aggressively re-engineering its value proposition from a passive gateway to an active “Sovereign Sandbox.” This panel examines the friction between the city’s drive for independent AI industrialisation and its status as an international financial nexus. We address two systemic tensions: First, can Hong Kong’s financial infrastructure remain globally interoperable while its technical architecture aligns with China’s National AI+ Initiative? Second, does the city’s current trajectory signify a permanent pivot toward a bifurcated, non-Western tech and financial ecosystem?

Speakers

Mason Wong, MacCracken Fellow, New York University

Anna Kwok, Hong Kong Advocate

Carmen Lau, Former Hong Kong District Councillor

Samuel Bickett, Principal Attorney; Founder of Bickett Law and Policy PLLC

Moderator

Anka Lee, Partner, Scalare Advisors

Opening speech

Sunny Cheung, Fellow, The Jamestown Foundation