The Pulse：UGL: interview with James Tien, start-ups in Silicon Valley & HK

Last week, after a four year investigation, the Independent Commission Against Corruption or ICAC handed in a report on the undeclared HK$50 million payment made to former Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, shortly before assuming office. The payment was made by the Australian engineering firm UGL. When the ICAC investigation was given to the Department of Justice – it acted with extreme speed to declare that there was no case to answer-and refused to give any reasons why this was so. With us to talk about it is James Tien, Honorary Chair of the Liberal Party.
The arrest of Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Canada pending extradition to the United States is seen by many as being part of the ongoing battle for technological dominance between the US and China. At the moment however the most visible embodiment of this battle is the escalating trade war.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong government is placing its hopes on the development of the Greater Bay Area as a technological hub. This year the government allocated HK$10 billion to establish two IT clusters at the Hong Kong Science Park as well as providing another HK$7 billion and HK$200 million to the Science Park and Cyberport respectively to help local start-ups. Yet while some see the competition between the US and China for technological dominance as a zero-sum game companies straddling the two nations hope for a future that benefits from co-operation more than competition.