THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF HONG KONG INVESTMENTS IN THE ASEAN REGION

Abstract

ABSTRACTConventional studies of “Third World multinationals” tend to focus on their recent origins. This paper argues that the transnational operations of Hong Kong firms have had a long tradition originating in its Overseas Chinese networks and in the colonial experience of many Southeast Asian countries. Based on secondary and primary data, this paper takes a historical view to describe how the ASEAN operations of Hong Kong transnational corporations (HKTNCs) and their foreign direct investment (HKFDI) have evolved over more than a century to become one of the most important economic players in the ASEAN region. Four phases of their historical development are benchmarked in this paper. Before World War II, HKTNCs in the commercial and banking sectors had a notable presence in the region. It was, however, in the post‐war period that HKTNCs and their FDI flows flourished. During the period 1945–69, industrialisation took off in Hong Kong and this led to the expansion of manufacturing HKTNCs into the ASEAN region. The real zenith of outward investment from Hong Kong was the 1970s and 1980s so that in the 1990s Hong Kong has become one of the largest investors in Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.