Economic Warfare in East Asia and the Transformation of Hong Kong Industry, 1965-1988 by Dr. Macabe Keliher

Economic Warfare in East Asia and the Transformation of Hong Kong Industry, 1965-1988

In 1965 Taiwan set up a secret economic warfare unit inside the executive branch. For over two decades this unit worked to undermine China’s economy and obstruct its overseas trade through covert operations in Hong Kong. This talk draws on meeting notes and secret reports to outline the actions and operations of the unit, examining the front companies in Hong Kong and how the unit strategized to create markets, provide credit, court overseas Chinese business, and spread anti-China propaganda. The talk argues that the economic warfare waged by Taiwan led to a transformation of the Hong Kong economy by helping facilitate industrial upgrading and economic diversification. Contrary to existing interpretations of Hong Kong economic development focused on markets or limited domestic inputs, this talk argues that regional inputs must be accounted for.

Macabe Keliher is associate professor of History at Southern Methodist University and author of the award winning book, The Board of Rites and the Making of Qing China. His current research is an institutional history of industrialization and political economy in postwar East Asia.