Strategic Shifts in Diplomacy, Trade, and Innovation

As Asia moves toward 2026, the region is undergoing significant transformations driven by evolving geopolitical dynamics, economic realignments, and technological innovation. Young China Watchers Hong Kong invites you to a timely panel discussion. Drawing on insights from recent high-level engagements, including the ASEAN and APEC Summits, experts will unpack emerging alliances and strategic shifts that are shaping Asia’s future across diplomacy, environment, trade and economics, manufacturing and innovation, and China’s evolving role. The conversation will also consider broader global implications and what these shifts mean for Asia’s leadership in a multipolar world.

Panelists:
– Christine Loh, Chief Development Strategist, Institute for the Environment, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
– Alberto Moel, Professor of Practice in Finance, the University of Hong Kong
– Alejandro Reyes, Adjunct Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, the University of Hong Kong

Moderated by Ciara Morris, Director, Hong Kong, Young China Watchers

Date & Time: Saturday, December 6, 9:30am-10:30am (Doors open at 9:00am)
Venue: Cafe 8, Rooftop Hong Kong Maritime Museum Pier 8, Central, Hong Kong

Meet Our Speakers

Christine Loh, Chief Development Strategist, Institute for the Environment at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Professor Christine Loh, SBS, JP, OBE, Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, is Chief Development Strategist at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She was Under Secretary for the Environment in the HKSAR Government (2012-17), Special Consultant to the Chief Executive on the mainland’s ecological civilisation policy (2019-2020), and a Member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council (1992-97 and 1998-2000). Loh has been active in public policy and politics since the 1980s. She founded and was the CEO of the non-profit think tank, Civic Exchange (2000-12), and helped to establish several non-profit organizations in Hong Kong related to the environment, equal opportunity, arts and culture, as well as human rights.

Professor Loh is currently a board member of New Forests Pty Ltd, and Towngas Smart Energy Company Limited, and is Asia Society’s Scholar in Residence (2023-2025). She is also a Steering Committee member of the United Nations International Organization for Migration’s new Climate Mobility Innovation Lab, as well as member of the Advisory Committee of the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery at the City University of Hong Kong. She was a board member of Global Maritime Forum (2018-2025) and taught a course at Anderson School of Management, University of California at Los Angeles on nonmarket risks for five years (2018-22). She is a published author of many academic and popular works. Loh is a lawyer by training, and a commodities trader by profession. She received her legal training in England, and received honorary degrees of Doctor of Law from the University of Hull and Doctor of Science from the University of Exeter. 

Alberto Moel, Professor of Practice in Finance, the University of Hong Kong

Alberto Moel is a Professor of Practice in Finance at the University of Hong Kong.

Previously, Vice President at Symbotic, Inc, and Vice President at Veo Robotics, making industrial robots collaborative (acquired by Symbotic, Inc.)   Before that, Senior Research Analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong, covering Asian high technology companies in the automation and robotics, manufacturing technology, display, and PC OEM sectors; and Principal in the Hong Kong office and co-leader of the Tokyo office of Monitor Group.

In addition, Professor and Lecturer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and at Harvard Business School, co-founded a successful Brazilian hedge fund, and worked at JP Morgan (New York and Mexico City), Toshiba Corporation in Japan, and IBM Corporation in New York, Cambridge, and Zurich.

Alejandro Reyes, Adjunct Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration (PPA), the University of Hong Kong

Alejandro Reyes is adjunct professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration (PPA) and senior fellow at the Centre on Contemporary China and the World (CCCW) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He is also scholar-in-residence at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center and adviser to the research and learning group AI Safety Asia. From 2019 to 2023, he was adjunct professor and director of knowledge dissemination at the Asia Global Institute at HKU, where he managed the digital journal AsiaGlobal Online and other policy research. Prior to that, he was for two years senior policy adviser to the assistant deputy minister for Asia Pacific and set up and led the Asia-Pacific policy planning unit at Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian foreign ministry, which initiated the drafting of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, launched in 2022. He had previously served in the department in 2002 as a senior policy adviser to the Canadian foreign minister, working on the G8 and a review of Canadian foreign policy. From 2007 to 2017, he was an associate professor in the PPA Department at HKU. A Hong Kong-based independent consultant from 2001 to 2017, he worked with several foundations and international organizations including the G20 Business Summit, the Clinton Global Initiative, the World Economic Forum and the US-Asia Institute. He has edited or written several publications including a book on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a history of Manila at the end of the Japanese Occupation, an Asian investment guide, and a survey of the financial services sector in Asia by McKinsey & Co. He began his professional career as a journalist with Asiaweek magazine, part of Time Inc, where he worked from 1988 to 2001 in Hong Kong and Singapore. Born in the Philippines and a citizen of Canada, he was educated at Harvard University and the University of Oxford and in 2000 was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters by Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Moderated by
Ciara Morris, Director, Hong Kong, Young China Watchers

Ciara Morris is an Irish-Australian PhD candidate at City University of Hong Kong, researching Chinese nationalism, public opinion, and foreign policy. She is also an editor at China Policy, an international policy analysis and strategic advisory firm.