The Roots and Directions of Hong Kong's Never-Ending Poiltical Crisis

Professor Zweig will provide an update on events in Hong Kong and discuss the road forward.

The roots of Hong Kong’s political crisis are deep. “One country-two systems” is in trouble. Alienated youth, identity politics, a strong absence of mutual understanding, unmet expectations on both sides, and Beijing’s fear of secessionism and foreign interference all intensify the dilemma, which the recent Legco elections have only deepened. Professor Zweig will provide an update on events in Hong Kong and discuss the road forward.

David Zweig is Chair Professor, Division of Social Science, and Director, Center on China’s Transnational Relations (www.cctr.ust.hk), The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is a Senior Research Fellow, Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada; Adjunct Professor, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan; and Vice-President of the Center on China’s Globalization (Beijing). He lived in the Mainland for 4 years (1974-76, 1980-81, 1986 and 1991-92), and in Hong Kong since 1996. In 1984-85, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University. His Ph.D. is from The University of Michigan (Political Science, 1983).

He is the author of four books, including Internationalizing China: domestic interests and global linkages (Cornell Univ. Press, 2002) and a new edited book, Sino-U.S. Energy Triangles: Resource Diplomacy under Hegemony, with Hao Yufan (Routledge: 2015). In 2013, he received The Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, 2013-14, and in 2015 received a grant from the RGC for a project entitled, “Coming Home: Reverse Migration of Entrepreneurs and Academics in India and Turkey in Light of the Chinese Experience.”

Recent consultancies include reports for the Central Policy Unit (Government of Hong Kong), the Guangdong Provincial Government, Goldman Sachs, Handelsbank Capital Markets, Deutsche Bank and Shenzhen University.