Business as Usual? The Role of Business Elites in Hong Kong’s Evolving Political Identity

The article argues that Hong Kong is a polity where business elites have been and remain key to maintaining the status quo. The article builds on data and information about advisory committees, functional constituencies pre- and post-1997, and reviews business elites’ support for British advisory politics. Prior to the 1997 handover, advisory politics proved useful to secure the cooperation of the business elites, promote British interests, and induce political participation while simultaneously postponing universal suffrage. The article also discusses Beijing’s bias toward business elites and advisory politics during the 1980s and the Sino-British negotiations, and China’s efforts, between 1997 and 2019, to co-opt business elites to ensure prosperity, stability, and political control on the island. Throughout Hong Kong’s history, business elites have acted as a powerful barrier against democratic development and, consequently, emerged as one of the main reasons why Hong Kong’s political identity remains in jeopardy.