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China pledges 'strong backup' for Hong Kong in global crisis
2008-12-19
BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promised Friday that China would provide "strong backup" for Hong Kong and adopt measures to ensure its financial stability amid the global economic crisis. Wen made the pledge while meeting Donald Tsang, the chief executive of the southern Chinese administrative region who is currently in Beijing, the government said in a statement on its website. "The motherland will always provide strong backup for Hong Kong," Wen was quoted as telling Tsang. "The central government will make unremitting efforts to support the regional government and Hong Kong's economic stability and continued economic development and prosperity." The central government had decided on a 14-point plan to further integrate Hong Kong with the mainland in a broad range of areas including finance, infrastructure, investment and services, Wen said. "We will strengthen the financial cooperation between the interior areas and Hong Kong, strengthen the building of Hong Kong's infrastructure (and) push forward cooperation between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta," Wen said. The Pearl River Delta, just north of Hong Kong, is home to thousands of export-oriented enterprises, many of them set up with capital from the city. Wen also promised to open up service industries in the interior of China further to Hong Kong enterprises, while adopting measures to expand Chinese tourism in the city. In addition, the central government would facilitate Hong Kong investment in mainland enterprises, especially small- and medium sized companies currently facing difficulties, Wen said. Tsang warned this month that the impact of the global woes on Hong Kong in 2009 could be as bad as in the wake of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. But Wen voiced confidence that the former British colony would be able to solidify its status as an international finance centre. "The central government strongly believes that through the common efforts of all the people of Hong Kong, Hong Kong will be able to overcome the difficulties brought on by the financial crisis," Wen said.
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