Editor's note: He Jingyi is a CGTN business reporter. The article reflects the author' views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

As Asia's economic landscape becomes more fragmented, the question is not simply how to stay open, but how to stay connected—and where capital can flow across increasingly complex borders.

For Hong Kong, this raises a more specific question: What can the city offer an Asia-Pacific region that increasingly needs both resilience and connectivity?

As the city implements its first Five-Year Plan and prepares to host the APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting, it has an opportunity to rethink its role in the region. Can Hong Kong move beyond being a traditional gateway between the Chinese mainland and the world, and become a financial connector for a more integrated Asia-Pacific?

The question was discussed on Wednesday at The University of Hong Kong, where Mari Pangestu, special envoy of the president of the Republic of Indonesia for International Trade and Multilateral Cooperation, and Professor Edward K Y Chen, honorary professor at HKU Business School, discussed how Asian economies can preserve regional integration amid geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

Pangestu's answer was particularly relevant to Hong Kong: "The real potential lies in the financial connectivity that Hong Kong can provide."

That may be the most useful way to think about Hong Kong's next economic chapter.

Resilience does not mean retreat

Asia is facing a more complicated economic environment than it did a decade ago. Geopolitical tensions are reshaping trade, supply chains are being reconfigured, energy and commodity shocks are raising costs, while the green transition and artificial intelligence are creating new opportunities as well as new risks.

The instinct in such an environment may be to become more self-reliant and less exposed to external shocks. But that is not necessarily the most realistic strategy for Asia, one of the world's most trade- and investment-dependent regions.

Pangestu's argument is that resilience should not be confused with retreat. Regional economies need to diversify, strengthen their capacity to absorb shocks and deepen cooperation at the same time.

Edward Chen made a similar point in his closing remarks at HKU, arguing that resilience can only be built through regional cooperation and a collective response.

The implication is important: Economic security does not have to come at the expense of openness. In fact, greater regional connectivity may be part of the answer to economic insecurity.

For Hong Kong, this creates an opportunity.

Hong Kong's advantage is not simply trade

Hong Kong has long described itself as a gateway between the Chinese mainland and the rest of the world. That role remains important, but it may no longer be enough to define its next phase of growth.

The more interesting opportunity lies in what happens behind trade: financing, investment, insurance, asset management and risk management.

As supply chains shift across Asia, capital needs to move with them. Pangestu noted that Chinese companies and companies based in China are establishing additional production bases in countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and India. Hong Kong, she argued, can play a role in facilitating Chinese companies' investment abroad.

That points to a potentially more valuable role for Hong Kong—not simply helping companies trade, but helping them finance and manage the risks of going global.

Sustainable finance, green bonds, infrastructure investment and transition finance are areas where Hong Kong can potentially connect Asian capital with the region's investment needs.

This is particularly relevant as ASEAN economies require capital for infrastructure, energy transition and industrial upgrading, while companies from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area look further into overseas markets.

The opportunity, therefore, is not to compete with every financial center in Asia. It is to occupy a specific position within an increasingly interconnected regional economy.

Connectivity requires institutions

This is also why Hong Kong's pursuit of RCEP membership matters beyond trade statistics.

Regional integration works best when there are rules and institutions behind it. Pangestu described this approach as "constructive incrementalism"—advancing cooperation where practical while maintaining an open, rules-based framework.

Chen's long-standing idea of "open regionalism" points in a similar direction: Regional cooperation should not become another form of economic fragmentation.

That principle could be increasingly important as the world economy becomes more divided.

If every economy responds to uncertainty by building higher walls, supply chains may become more expensive and capital less efficient. If economies instead build stronger regional links while maintaining safeguards against shocks, resilience can become a product of connectivity rather than isolation.

For Hong Kong, this is more than a philosophical debate. It is a question of economic positioning.

APEC is an opportunity, not an answer

This makes the APEC meetings coming to Hong Kong and Shenzhen particularly significant.

APEC will not solve the region's geopolitical tensions, nor can Hong Kong single-handedly reshape Asia's economic order. But it provides a platform for discussions that increasingly need to happen together: trade, investment, finance, supply chains and economic security.

Hong Kong's challenge is to turn that platform into something more tangible.

The test should not be how much additional capital the city attracts in isolation. It should be whether Hong Kong can help capital move more efficiently between the Greater Bay Area, ASEAN and the wider Asia-Pacific—while helping businesses manage the risks that come with that movement.

For decades, Hong Kong's value proposition was relatively simple: a gateway to and from China.

The next one may need to be more ambitious.

As Asia becomes more economically integrated but geopolitically fragmented, Hong Kong could position itself not merely as a gateway, but as a capital connector—linking the Greater Bay Area's companies and capabilities with ASEAN's markets and investment opportunities, and providing the financial tools needed to navigate a more uncertain region.

That would not replace Hong Kong's traditional role.

It would give it a new reason to matter.