How to Keep the US-China Financial Cold War from Turning Hot (May 12, 2022)
James Fok’s unique perspective on US-China relations traces back to having grown up in a biracial family in Hong Kong and studying in the UK and his work for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, a nexus for China’s enterprise and global capital.
Fok’s new book provides a breadth of context into the historical factors that have brought us to this point.
There is no more critical determinant for global peace and prosperity than the interaction between the United States and China. While the incumbent superpower grapples with deep domestic social and political divisions and a breakdown in trust in the international system, the rising superpower seeks to assert what it sees at its rightful place at the top of the global order. Whether we like it or not, all of us find ourselves in the midst of a “Financial Cold War” between the West and China, and now Russia.
Fok is a veteran financial and strategic advisor to corporations and governments. He served as a senior executive at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) from 2012 until 2021, during a period of rapid internationalisation in China’s capital markets. While there, he played a major role in a number of landmark financial markets initiatives, including the launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect programme (2014), Bond Connect (2017) and the Hong Kong market’s Listing Reforms (2018). Prior to HKEX, Fok worked as an investment banker in both Europe and Asia, specialising in the financial services sector.