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Benjamin Fuller

Hong Kong is positioning itself as a middleman in the fast-growing global space economy, senior officials and experts have said, noting the city can turn its financial markets, common law system and dispute-resolution capabilities into a commercial advantage.
At the 2026 Colloquium on International Law on Friday, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said Hong Kong’s “sharpest competitive edge” lay in professional services for commercial space.
He added that the city was “exceptionally well-positioned” to resolve disputes through arbitration and mediation.
“Thanks to the principle of ‘one country, two systems’, our common law system, independent judiciary and multilingual pool of experts make us an ideal venue,” Lam said.
Hong Kong’s ambitions are also tied to China’s five-year plan for 2026 to 2030, which identifies outer space development as a strategic priority.
Zhang Changwei, deputy commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong, said the city could serve as a bridge for international space cooperation.
“Hong Kong can act as a superconnector for international space cooperation, helping Chinese mainland commercial space companies integrate into the global market and attracting international non-governmental space organisations to set up here,” he said.
Zhang also described the city as a “gold medal mediator” for space disputes, underscoring its role as a neutral service hub rather than a launch base.
Aarti Holla-Maini, director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, echoed Zhang’s remarks, saying Hong Kong was “well placed to help finance and shape this economy” thanks to its financial markets, common law tradition and role as a superconnector.
“It is a real opportunity the city should seize,” she said.

The space economy is emerging as one of the next major drivers of economic growth. It is now globally worth about US$630 billion and expected to climb in value to nearly US$2 trillion over the next decade.
Fellow speaker Justin D’Agostino, global CEO of law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, said the sector was expected to grow annually by about 8 to 9 per cent – a pace far outstripping other industries.
But Holla-Maini warned that satellites were being launched at a rate never seen before and the same orbits driving growth were becoming increasingly crowded.
She said there were already more than 10,000 active satellites in orbit and that issues of debris accumulation, spectrum disputes and coordination failures would become more serious as commercial activity multiplied.
Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, secretary general of the Hong Kong-based International Organisation for Mediation, said the growth of the space economy was rapidly outpacing its legal framework.
She said international space law had remained “relatively static”, with most of the current treaties and principles established between the 1960s and 1990s, leaving unanswered questions over property ownership, debris mitigation, liability and conflict resolution.
“Whilst technology advances at an unprecedented pace, the international legal instruments that should accompany such advancement have not,” the former justice minister said.
She added that the world needed to move from “fragmented and self-centred frameworks” to a “multilateral, holistic and coherent” legal order for outer space.


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Hong Kong

Hong Kong Economy

Experts, top officials say city can turn existing strengths into commercial advantage to tap into fast-growing global space economy


Experts, top officials say city can turn existing strengths into commercial advantage to tap into fast-growing global space economy.


Space

International Organisation for Mediation (IOMed)

China

International Organisation for Mediation

Can Hong Kong’s arbitration skills help the new global space race take off?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Experts, top officials say city can turn existing strengths into commercial advantage to tap into fast-growing global space economy

Experts, top officials say city can turn existing strengths into commercial advantage to tap into fast-growing global space economy