Kun.uz correspondent had an interview with George Chen, the Managing Director for Hong Kong and Taiwan at The Asia Group (TAG) and a Senior Fellow for the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Prior to joining TAG, George was the Managing Director of Public Policy for Greater China, Mongolia, and Central Asia for Meta, previously known as Facebook (2016-2023). In that role, George was Meta’s senior policy representative and supply chain leader in the Asia-Pacific region and managed Meta’s work on US-China relations and regional geopolitical issues.
During the interview, George Chen spoke about his work at Facebook, the company’s cooperation with Uzbekistan, trolling on social networks, the US-China-Taiwan triangle and many other issues.
Hello and welcome, Mr. Chen. I’m really glad for your presence in our office and for agreeing to the interview.
Unless I’m very much mistaken, it’s your second visit to Uzbekistan and the first since you joined The Asia Group.
Yes, correct. Thanks a lot, it’s a great honor to be in the studio of one of the most popular news media in Central Asia.
It’s very interesting to know what the company does in general. Could you please tell us about your role as the Managing Director in The Asia Group and your contribution to its development?
Sure. I joined The Asia Group in June. I am the Managing Director for Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Asia Group is a Washington D.C. headquartered policy consultancy. The company was founded by Kurt Campbell. He was a senior diplomat who set up the firm after his retirement. When President Biden took office, he joined the Biden administration as the India-Pacific coordinator. Although he is not very much involved in the business, we have good leadership and management to bring the firm to the next level.
Prior to joining The Asia Group, you held a senior position at Facebook, now known as the Meta company. You provided personal assistance in verifying the official accounts of the Foreign Ministry structures. Although you left your job at Facebook, you know a lot about its policy and how things are run there. So, based on that can you name some important areas of cooperation between the company and Uzbekistan?
I worked for Facebook, which is now known as Meta, for more than seven years. At that time, I covered quite a big region, including Mainland China, Central Asia, and Mongolia. To be honest, I feel very proud to have had the opportunity to cover this region, especially Central Asia. During my time at Facebook, lots of ministries in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan became more active on social media and we helped them to get their accounts verified and to solve their certain problems. It is good to see both the government and people using social media to engage with each other directly. If you think about 20 years ago, it was difficult even to imagine it. The sources of information were very limited and tightly controlled back then.
