I saw nothing but denial in my recent post-US-election tour of Asia, with stops in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Beijing, and Singapore. Taking a cue from surging global equity markets, Asians are making every effort to wish away problems at home and abroad.

If a report in the Washington Post is true, the United States is playing politics by blocking John Lee Ka-chiu’s attendance at an upcoming APEC meeting in San Francisco. This must not be allowed to become a spark that starts another prairie fire in China-U.S. relations.

Hong Kong has the opportunity to play a unique role in the Sino-American relationship, which would also help it maintain relevance on the world stage. Additionally, the SAR must diversify beyond the Sino-U.S. relationship.

To glimpse how China is perceived in the West, a good place to start would be the titles of bestsellers. In 2015, the No. 1 bestseller in the United States was The Hundred-year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower. In 2017, there was Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? And this year, a trending one is Red-handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win.

Twenty-five years on from Hong Kong’s handover to China, the special administrative region undoubtedly still has a role to play still in mediating Sino-American relations.

Unlike Britain and the United States, China actually walks the walk of human rights. It doesn’t merely talk the talk. What the Chinese mainland has taught us is that the zero-COVID policy is the most effective solution for avoiding deaths.

The U.S. and China conduct hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade with each other, yet they remain at odds in the political arena. Although each government can claim their grievances, business operators have more to gain with more open communication.

Hong Kong is a vital bridge and gateway for China to the rest of the world, and for the United States to China. China and the United States would be wise to maintain the city’s cosmopolitanism while reining in detrimental sanctions, respectively.

By disrupting the world’s interconnected economic, social, and geopolitical spheres, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed just how fragile and inequitable the institutions that govern them really are. It has also highlighted how difficult it is to address systemic fragility and inequity amid escalating national-security threats.

The National Security Law for the special administrative region is a necessary prerequisite to the restoration of prosperity. Unfortunately, some businesses may be reluctant to show their support because they fear retribution.