CE kicks off visit to Zhejiang, eyeing tech collab

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has begun a four-day visit to Zhejiang province, home to DeepSeek and a growing tech hub in mainland China, leading a high-level delegation with a key focus on technological cooperation.

The city leader’s first stop was Zhejiang University-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, where local officials told Lee about the latest developments in Hong Kong-Hangzhou technology collaboration.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Lee highlighted the center’s success in industry-academia-research collaboration, including breakthroughs in semiconductor materials, which he said helped the country tackle critical technological bottlenecks.

“Amid complex geopolitical challenges, Hong Kong, like Hangzhou, remains committed to growing its innovation and technology sector,” Lee wrote, emphasizing that deeper tech exchanges would advance national development.

Lee also noted that Zhejiang University is one of the eligible mainland universities under the Top Talent Pass Scheme, and over 4,000 of its graduates have been approved to pursue their careers in Hong Kong through the scheme.

In the evening, Lee attended a dinner hosted by the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in Zhejiang, where he met with Hongkongers and representatives of Hong Kong enterprises in Zhejiang.

A key emphasis of the trip lies in exploring local advancements in technology, despite the official itinerary focusing on investment promotions and economic cooperation forums, according to government insiders.

In another post, Lee said he would “explore the growth and impact” of Hangzhou’s “six little dragons,” China’s six leading tech start-ups, including DeepSeek, which developed an artificial intelligence model with under US$6 million.

The others are Game Science, the firm behind hit video game Black Myth: Wukong; Unitree Robotics; Deep Robotics; BrainCo, a brain-computer interface developer; and Manycore Tech, a spatial design software company.

Lee will reportedly visit a city gallery that features an exhibition about the six companies and meet their representatives there, though it is unclear whether DeepSeek’s founder Liang Wenfeng will be present.

In addition to leveraging Zhejiang’s tech advancements, government insiders say the SAR sees an opportunity amid the US-China trade war to draw the “six little dragons” to list in Hong Kong, positioning the city as a gateway to global markets.

During the trip, Lee will attend a Hong Kong-Zhejiang high-level cooperation meeting in the provincial capital of Hangzhou, as well as two forums on investment and economy in the city of Ningbo. He will also meet with provincial and mayoral officials there.

“A specific cooperation mechanism between the two places will be established through this visit, further strengthening collaboration, achieving complementarity and mutual benefits,” according to a government statement released on Sunday.

The SAR delegation featured an unprecedented level of government participation, including Chief Secretary Eric Chan and Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong, as well as five secretaries for technology, commerce, housing, mainland affairs, and youth.

Lee will return to Hong Kong on Friday.

(Jamie Liu)

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