Hong Kong leader taps 2 tech heads from Hangzhou’s ‘Little Dragons’ as advisers

The Hong Kong chief executive’s Council of Advisers has welcomed three new members, including two tech bosses from Hangzhou’s “Six Little Dragons” and a mainland Chinese economist who was a senior official with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The government on Friday announced the appointment of 34 members to the second term of Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s Council of Advisers, with the two-year appointment to start on Tuesday.

Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, chairman of CK Hutchison Holdings, will not remain in the group after his current appointment ends on June 30. Li’s firm has been embroiled in the controversial sale of its overseas ports, including two Panama facilities.

The two tech bosses from Hangzhou appointed to the council are Han Bicheng, CEO of BrainCo, which specialises in brain-machine interfaces, and Wang Xingxing, founder and CEO of humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics. They are placed under the category of “innovation and entrepreneurship” in the council.

Zhu Min, who was the deputy managing director of the IMF from 2011 to 2016, is another newly appointed member of the council under the category of “economic advancement and sustainability”.

Zhu is currently a member of the senior expert advisory committee of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges and part of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum.

During his trip to Hangzhou in April, Hong Kong’s leader met representatives of the “Six Little Dragons”, all technology start-ups, including Han and Wang, and visited BrainCo and Unitree.