Bauhinia think tank bows out as influence wanes
The Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre, a think tank set up by a close aide of former chief executive Donald Tsang Yamkuen, will close by the end of the month, the Post has learned.
Analysts said its exit underscored the limited room for think tanks to develop in a city where policymaking had been dominated by officials.
The centre was founded in March 2006 by Norman Chan Tak-lam, who ran Tsang’s campaign to become city leader the previous year. He was director of the Chief Executive’s Office from 2007 to 2009, before becoming chief executive of the Monetary Authority.
Over the years, the think tank focused on policy research, looking at key factors and conditions that would contribute to Hong Kong’s overall and long-term development.
Its staff of about 10 employees publish one or two research studies every year, with their last public policy paper, released last July, focused on strategies for achieving sustainable tourism.
Confirming its closure, foundation chairman Lau Ming-wai told the Post: “After serving the community for 16 years, we will finish our research and operations later this month and Bauhinia’s mission will come to an end.”
The centre’s staff felt “proud and emotional” that their work was drawing to a close, said Lau, who has a doctorate from King’s College London and is chairman of Chinese Estates Holdings and Ocean Park Corporation, as well as vice-chairman of the Youth Development Commission.
“We are proud of our research output, the individuals we have nurtured and the policy discourse we have stimulated over the years,” he said.
“I look forward to other think tanks and organisations continuing their contribution to public policy in Hong Kong.”
In its early years, some of the centre’s policy recommendations were accepted by the government, including a proposal for a railway linking Hong Kong and Shenzhen airports and a loan guarantee scheme for small and medium-sized enterprises.
But authorities later dropped the cross-border railway plan, with the foundation’s influence on policymaking appearing to wane after Tsang’s tenure ended in 2012.
About 10 other think tanks operate in Hong Kong. The most prominent are the Our Hong Kong Foundation, which was founded by former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, the Hong Kong Policy Research Institute and the One Country Two Systems Research Institute.
To maintain operational costs, the city’s research centres have mainly relied on financial support from the business community to stay afloat.
But a person involved in public policy studies said the difficulties facing think tanks stemmed from a lack of consensus in the government and business community on the value of such research centres.
“In the past two decades, think tanks have failed to take root in the public ecosystem in Hong Kong.
“I don’t think any think tank has successfully built a broad base of donors,” the person, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
In 2019, the think tank SynergyNet closed, citing a lack of financial resources and frustration with the government’s disregard for public policy studies. It was founded by former transport and housing minister Anthony Cheung Bing-leung and a group of moderate academics in 2002.
Cheung said think tanks began to emerge shortly before Hong Kong returned to mainland rule in 1997 as some in academic and political circles expected the city’s political system to gradually open up after the handover.
“They hoped to sway the policymaking process after the handover,” he said. “But under the executive-led system in Hong Kong, the policymaking process is still dominated by government officials.”
As for the lack of support, the former minister said the business sector lacked strong incentives to donate to think tanks.
Cheung added that think tank employees faced a shortage of opportunities to progress into jobs in government departments, where they could receive a firsthand understanding of the policymaking process.
He also said he felt that the media and public did not respect the work of think tanks or care much about their research output.
Andrew Fung Ho-keung, chief executive of the think tank Hong Kong Policy Research Institute, said that after Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor became leader in 2017, her administration had stepped up interaction with think tanks.
The government’s Policy Innovation and Coordination Office, a research unit reporting directly to Lam, held regular meetings with think tanks before the pandemic arrived two years ago.
However, Fung said it was hard for research centres to sway the policymaking process, adding: “The government is also not willing to acknowledge the think tanks’ proposals.”