Senior state official highlights four areas for city to focus on in future
STUART LAU, MAGGIE ZHANG AND NIKKI SUN
UPDATED : Wednesday, 18 May, 2016, 2:04pm
Zhang Dejiang addressing a crowd comprising overseas officials at the Belt and Road summit. Photo: Sam Tsang
China has given its full support for Hong Kong to participate in its One Belt, One Road strategic initiative, with the nation’s third-highest-ranking leader identifying four key areas for the city to focus on in the future.
The four areas that Zhang Dejiang highlighted in a keynote speech delivered on Wednesday at the One Belt, One Road summit were the city’s professional sectors, renminbi internationalisation, “people-to-people exchanges”, and cooperation with the mainland on developing belt and road businesses.
“The central government ... holds the view that Hong Kong possesses a multitude of unique strengths in the development of One Belt, One Road, and is capable of performing such functions that are of high importance,” Zhang said.
The address marked the clearest direction a mainland leader has given the city on its role in the strategy since President Xi Jinping floated the idea in 2013. Previous comments mainly focused on Hong Kong serving as a “super connector” in One Belt, One Road.
The central government of China places strong emphasis on Hong Kong’s prosperity, stability, as well as its role in the nation’s overall strategic position.
ZHANG DEJIANG
The Politburo standing committee member, who chairs a group overseeing Hong Kong affairs, called on the city to engage in the nation’s development “more proactively” while China continued to support the city in developing new strengths.
Underlining Hong Kong’s traditional strengths, he said the busy sea port served as “an important door to the opening-up of the country”, with the airport’s high volume of trade contributing to the city’s regional strength.
Zhang Dejiang speaking at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on Wednesday. Photo: Sam Tsang
The central government would support Hong Kong’s role as a centre of dispute resolution and arbitration for the Asia-Pacific region, as well as for belt and road countries, Zhang added.
On the topic of the national currency, he said Hong Kong was a capital platform for the internationalisation of the renminbi and that the city could play a role in strengthening people-to-people exchanges.
“The central government of China places strong emphasis on Hong Kong’s prosperity, stability, as well as its role in the nation’s overall strategic position,” Zhang said, addressing an audience that included overseas officials.
In what could be regarded as a continuation of his positive remarks about the city, he described Hong Kong’s service industry as of a high quality.
“According to my understanding, China’s Ministry of Commerce invited Hong Kong’s consultancy firms in two infrastructure projects in Nepal and Cambodia,” he said. “After the serious earthquake in Nepal, while many buildings collapsed, the project supervised by the Hong Kong company was basically unscathed.”
Diehard fans are all around the world when it comes to Hong Kong’s kung fu movies.
ZHANG DEJIANG
Zhang also touched on Hong Kong’s cultural prowess, which he said had made an “immense impact” internationally.
“Diehard fans are all around the world when it comes to Hong Kong’s kung fu movies,” he said. “They have made an impact on people across several generations.”
Ophelia Yeung, chief secretary of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, said on the sidelines of the forum that Zhang’s speech fully underlined Hong Kong’s position in the belt and road strategy.
She said he gave directions for local businesses to fully tap opportunities brought by the initiative in areas such as infrastructure, insurance, financing and professional services.China CITIC Bank International’s chief research economist Liao Qun said Beijing still attached great importance to the city’s role in the initiative despite talk that Hong Kong might be marginalised as mainland cities quickly developed.
Liao said the special status Hong Kong enjoyed was largely because the city’s full-fledged professional services enabled it to deal with complicated business situations that Chinese companies were expected to encounter when conducting business in belt and road countries.
“If there were not greater risks involved, Hong Kong would not be desperately needed,” he said, adding that many countries along the belt were still underdeveloped.
Liao said the participation of Hong Kong as a world-class accounting, legal and financial services provider could smooth and accelerate the opening-up process while holding risks at bay.
But he warned that Hong Kong needed to be “selective” in the early stages of the initiative.
Liao noted that Zhang’s emphasis on strengthening the city’s role as a regional transportation hub, which came first among the state leader’s four recommended areas, made considerable sense.
Andrew Fung Hau-chung, executive director and head of global banking and markets for Hang Seng Bank, said on the forum sidelines that the city enjoyed advantages in its debt capital market, cross-border export financing and equipment leasing. It was the sole financial centre in China that had expertise and experience in Islamic finance, he added.
If Hong Kong succeeded in becoming home to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the China-led treasury alliance, the city would have more leeway in the initiative, Fung added.
As a gateway to the mainland’s trade, investment and financing, it had well-established business links with southeast Asian markets and ample management expertise in mass transport, such as the airport, and hospitality services, he said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1946655/first-time-zhang-dejiang-spells-out-how-hong-kong-can-seize
