Former US Vice-President Mike Pence visits Hong Kong

By Jessie Pang

Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is due to attend a high-profile business conference on Thursday where he is expected to discuss the U.S. elections and its implications globally, days before the swearing in of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Pence is scheduled to speak at the UBS Wealth Insights 2025 summit held in the Asian financial centre, offering an "insider view into the U.S. elections and its far-reaching global implications," UBS said on the conference agenda's website.

He will focus on "international relations, economic policies, and geopolitical dynamics," it said.

UBS told Reuters in an email reply that Pence's session was a client-exclusive event and not open to media.

Pence served as Donald Trump's vice president for four years. However, Trump and Pence have had a strained relationship since the end of Trump's first term, which ran from 2017 through 2021.

Pence refused Trump's demand that he overturn his 2020 election defeat on Jan. 6, 2021. Pence also did not endorse Trump during last year's presidential election.

Pence's name was also mentioned in the national security trial of Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai when he gave his testimony in November. Thursday marked the 119th day of the trial against Lai.

Lai testified that he asked Pence to "say something in support of Hong Kong" during a meeting in July 2019, but he did not ask him to take any action.

"I would not dare to ask the vice president to do anything," Lai told the court. "This is beyond me."