Hong Kong has shown that for the likes of Saudi Arabia, the option to incrementally drain the US capital pool and divert it to Asia is on the table.
The Securities and Futures Commission has put up guard rails but Hong Kong still lacks a cohesive education and protection ecosystem to underpin the regulation, as JPEX fraud case shows.
Deepening ties herald the formation of a new Northeast Asian grouping, featuring Russia, China and North Korea, that will force a recalibration of US moves in the region. Asia can either bend to US sanctions and Nato’s forum-shopping, or shape a new paradigm from the Strait of Malacca to the Bering Straits.
The dollar cannot be dethroned in one fell swoop, but Brics members pledging to increase use of local currencies is a start. Gold could re-emerge as the basis of a new Asian-directed financial architecture in the expanded Brics.