Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said Hong Kong plays an “irreplaceable role”
Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said Hong Kong plays an “irreplaceable role” in China’s rapid economic growth and will be key to making the yuan an international currency.
Li, the expected successor to Premier Wen Jiabao as head of China’s day-to-day administration, also reassured the former British colony – which returned to China in 1997 – that its high level of autonomy will be retained.
His visit comes amid strained ties with Hong Kong, while the city government itself faces rising public anger over soaring housing prices and increasing protests calling on Beijing to speed up promised political reforms.
The premier-in-waiting urged Hong Kong residents to unite and work with chief executive Donald Tsang’s government to focus on “boosting economic development, tackling social issues and gradually pushing for democracy”.
Tensions flared last month when Wang Guangya, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the Chinese State Council, or cabinet, said local officials’ colonial-era roots meant they “don’t know how to be a boss”.
It has been a key concern among the seven million population that Beijing is becoming more hands-on in the city’s affairs, and the belief that it was bowing to Beijing has been cited as one of the reasons of rising public discontent.
Earlier, Li unveiled economic sweeteners including making it easier for Hong Kong firms to do business in China, and reaffirmed the city’s status as a hub for Beijing’s ambitious goal to turn the yuan into a global currency rivalling the US dollar.
He also said overseas investors would be allowed to buy mainland securities using yuan, starting with an initial 20 billion yuan (US$3.13 billion) investment, but gave no timeline for the scheme.
So-called dim sum bonds worth about 70 billion yuan were issued in Hong Kong during the first seven months of the year, 95 per cent more than the total for all of 2010, according to Hong Kong official statistics.
Source AFP