China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Opportunities and Linguistic Challenges for Hong Kong

Abstract

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) seeks to spread its influence across Asia and beyond. To support BRI, education providers are encouraged to develop “International Talents” with global perspectives, relevant language skills, and intercultural competence. Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, has various strengths that can help develop such talents. Many citizens are multilingual. Linguistic minorities speak relevant “Belt and Road” languages, and BRI offers opportunities to improve their socio-economic status. However, Hong Kong’s engagement with BRI is complicated by social, political, and educational issues following reunification with mainland China. This chapter examines how Hong Kong supports BRI in terms of multilingual education, and outlines a policy agenda to address issues of language rights and enhanced life chances for the relevant minority citizens.