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Hong Kong Baptist University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Organized International Symposium on Greater China and Mekong River Delta: Rising Dragons and Elephants in the Global Political Economy
07-08-2025
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) hosted the “International Symposium on Greater China and Mekong River Delta: Rising Dragons and Elephants in the Global Political Economy” on August 6, 2025. This academic event brought together scholars and practitioners from across Asia and beyond to explore the evolving socio-economic and ecological relationships between Greater China and the Mekong River Basin, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and regional collaboration.
The symposium was successfully held on August 6. Led and sponsored by the David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies (LEWI), hosted by FASS, and co-organized by six disciplinary research centres, the event showcased HKBU’s commitment to academic excellence and adaptability. The program featured a keynote address and six thematic panels on labour and migration, hydropower governance, media and geopolitics, fertility and data economy, rural sustainability, and energy transition in the context of Greater China and the Mekong River Delta.
Professor Chun Yang, Associate Dean (Research) and Chair Professor in Human Geography of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at HKBU, delivered opening remarks at the symposium. She emphasized, “This symposium offers a timely platform to examine the spatial, political, and ecological transformations shaping Greater China and the Mekong River Delta. As scholars, we have a responsibility to engage with these complex dynamics through collaborative, cross-regional research. I’m proud that HKBU continues to foster such meaningful academic exchange.”
Mr. Vathana Kol, Director of the Technical Support Division at the Mekong River Commission Secretariat and former Deputy Secretary General of the Cambodia National Mekong Committee, also delivered the keynote address. Drawing on the 2023 State of the Basin Report, he emphasized the region’s ecological and developmental challenges, stressing the need for “inclusive governance and strengthened regional cooperation.”
The symposium commenced on August 6, 2025, and attracted nearly a hundred public registrations in the opening ceremony.
