Contrary to polls predicting a coin toss between United States Vice-President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump in the race to the White House, the latter cruised to victory without the anticipated violence and legal tussle. With the Republicans poised to seize control of both houses of Congress, the president-elect — backed by a conservative-leaning Supreme Court packed with three of his appointees — is set to become the most powerful US president in recent history.

The sweeping nature of Trump’s defeat of Harris, wiping out the Democrats in all seven battleground states and their strongholds in the Midwest and the Sunbelt, is highly troubling for what it tells us about America’s choices in today’s volatile world. It is troubling that Americans have voted decisively for a candidate who had been twice impeached, convicted on a criminal charge and embroiled in other criminal proceedings, which will now likely fall away. The contest between Harris and Trump was thin on policy, but heavy on personal attacks, lies and falsehoods designed to whip up hate and fear. It is troubling that millions of American voters did not seem to care about ethics, or the vile rhetoric of the winner in this most consequential election. Trump won by claiming to American voters that he is strong; he would “Make America Great Again”, and that American interests would come first. Trump’s campaign tactics were decidedly effective, but a tremendous comedown from the far loftier and more confident messaging of his predecessors.    

Trump’s phenomenal success masks deep anxieties on the part of the American people about the future of their society and the economy. At one extreme, Wall Street’s flagship indexes keep ratcheting up new records. Across America, ordinary people are smarting from high inflation that has eroded their take-home pay, plus massive credit card debt, and an uncertain future caused by runaway illegal immigration and a decline in America’s manufacturing capabilities.

Outside America, to friends and foes alike, Trump is known for tariffs, unilateralism, and a transactional approach that throws precedents and principles to the winds. His seismic victory has stoked widespread fears.

As many concerned about the future of Sino-US relations have feared, Trump has to date appointed two pre-eminent China hawks in Congress, both from Florida, to key positions in his Cabinet — Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state, and Representative Michael Waltz as national security adviser. Senator Marco Rubio played a key role in steering the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act through Congress in 2019 and has twice been sanctioned by China.

It is not clear whether Senator Rubio has visited Hong Kong, despite his strong focus on the city. The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act 2019 was based on a wholly false narrative on Hong Kong fed by anti-China and anti-Hong Kong activists gripped by a twisted view of “one country, two systems” and Hong Kong’s destiny.

The channel for an exchange of views through the Hong Kong SAR is now more important than ever, given that more hawks are in charge in the US. People-to-people exchanges matter. Let Hong Kong do its part to contribute to global peace and prosperity

Despite the sanctions on Senator Rubio, it would do US-Hong Kong relations a lot of good if he could be invited to visit the city, to see the true state of affairs for himself. Hong Kong enjoys a high level of autonomy, and is run under a system that is distinct from that on the Chinese mainland. Hong Kong people enjoy a much higher level of rights and freedoms than people in many electoral democracies. Additionally, Hong Kong has a more representative and accountable form of government than it was ever given in the British era.

Amid the Sino-US tensions, Hong Kong plays a unique role as a meeting place for opinion and business leaders from the mainland, the US, Europe and Asia to brainstorm key issues affecting the future of the world. A good example is the Global Prosperity Summit (GPS) co-organized by Hong Kong’s Savantas Policy Institute and the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, which in May brought together former senior officials, free trade economists, academics and think tank leaders from the mainland, the US, Europe and Southeast Asia to debate topics affecting global development. Since its reopening to the world in early 2023 after the COVID-19 pandemic receded, Hong Kong has hosted numerous financial, investment and cultural summits. The GPS 24, Hong Kong’s first geopolitical summit, demonstrated Hong Kong’s ability to claim a place on the global stage of influencers.

Hong Kong will play host to another important forum later this month — the US-China Hong Kong Forum — hosted by the China-United States Exchange Foundation, which was founded by first-term Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa. This forum will bring together many old friends of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from the US, including the 11th US ambassador to China, Max Baucus, former US trade representative Charlene Barshefsky, and former US ambassador to Brunei Craig Allen, who is president of the US-China Business Council. Many of these speakers hail from a different era when free trade, multilateralism and win-win business collaboration were articles of faith. At a time when Trump’s tariff threats could plunge the world into a perilous recession, as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act did in the 1930s, discussions of the benefits of free trade and the perils of protectionism could not be more timely.

The world is in dire need of a wake-up call concerning the debilitating effects of protectionism and militarism. Though often perceived as a city caught in the crosshairs of Sino-US friction, there is no reason why Hong Kong cannot return to its previous role as an intermediary between systemic rivals, and a venue for conflicting perspectives to be ventilated. The upcoming US-China Forum is a harbinger of more geopolitical discussions across different political frontiers in Hong Kong.

The channel for an exchange of views through the Hong Kong SAR is now more important than ever, given that more hawks are in charge in the US. People-to-people exchanges matter. Let Hong Kong do its part to contribute to global peace and prosperity.

The author is convener of the Executive Council and a legislator.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.