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Kimmy Chung

Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday pledged to grant greater market access for investment from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Li also said the country would welcome people from the three places to study, work and enjoy living on the mainland.
His remarks were welcomed by Hong Kong’s business sector, which noted that the mainland had been opening up to city investors but hoped more could be done.
Speaking at the Boao Forum in Hainan province, Li said investors from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were set to enjoy more national development opportunities.
We will further relax market access for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan investment, in the sectors of finance, professional services and high-end manufacturing industries
Premier Li Keqiang
“We will further relax market access for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan investment, in the sectors of finance, professional services and high-end manufacturing industries,” Li said.
“We will keep rolling out policies facilitating the flow of people between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau ... and keep improving the environment for people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan to invest, work, study and live [on the mainland], to allow them to better enjoy the good national development opportunities.”
Chinese premier talks up economy as US trade talks resume
Witman Hung Wai-man, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, welcomed Li’s remarks and said he hoped the changes could be rolled out as soon as possible, saying the business sector had been calling for further relaxation of restrictions on local investors across the border for almost a decade.
Greater Bay Area can rival Silicon Valley and Wall Street, Carrie Lam says
For example, he said, Hong Kong lawyers can practise on the mainland if they get certain qualifications, but they cannot be a firm’s managing partner, and their total shares cannot exceed those of mainlanders.
“I hope, and believe, all such restrictions could be lifted, especially in the ‘Greater Bay Area’,” Hung said, referring to the national development plan to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine Guangdong cities into an innovation and technology hub.




Another NPC deputy, Maggie Chan Man-ki, noted that Hong Kong lawyers currently are not allowed to represent mainland clients in criminal cases. She added that she hoped the restriction could be lifted.
“As the country is further opening up, Hong Kong professionals could contribute much by helping the national system to connect to the international one,” Chan, a solicitor, said.
And Michael Tien Puk-sun, an NPC deputy and a Hong Kong legislator, said it would be generous if Li meant Hong Kong investments could access not only the Greater Bay Area but the whole country.
“It would be very welcome if Hong Kong investors could solely own a company on the mainland,” he said. “Many local businessmen do not want to co-own a company with mainlanders, as disputes are likely.”
It would be very welcome if Hong Kong investors could solely own a company on the mainland. Many local businessmen do not want to co-own a company with mainlanders, as disputes are likely
Michael Tien, NPC deputy and Hong Kong legislator
Li Xiaobing, an associate professor of the law school at Nankai University, in Tianjin, said he believed Beijing had a full view of governance in Hong Kong, 22 years on from the city’s return from British rule.
Taking into account the lessons of 2014’s pro-democracy Occupy protests and the setback to its policy of national education, the academic said, Beijing realised that a new route had to be taken.
“We have to strongly support the city’s integration into national development, to build a much deeper-rooted connection between Hong Kong and the mainland in economic and livelihood sectors,” he said.
He added that he believed such a connection would promote synchronicity in the political field, and benefit both the country and the city.




Premier Li’s strong words on Thursday came as he confirmed that support to investors from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan would not change after the legislation of China’s foreign investment law, which the national legislature approved two weeks ago.
The new law, set to come into effect on January 1, 2020, is intended to level the playing field for overseas investors and reassure the global community that China remains an attractive investment destination, by tweaking the rules around things such as market access and forced technology transfers.
Businesspeople in Hong Kong had raised concerns that the new law – whose draft did not mention Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan – would not apply to the city, depriving them of its benefits.
Li reiterated on Thursday that Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan would fall under the updated law, adding that this did not mean they were not a part of China.
“Our country’s compatriots can enjoy, on our own soil, more development opportunities,” he said.


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Greater Bay Area

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang promises greater market access for investors from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan

Li Keqiang said mainland China would welcome people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan to study and work. Photo: Winson Wong

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang talks up ‘steady’ and ‘positive’ economy, as crunch US-China trade war talks kick off in Beijing

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (L) takes part in US-China trade talks with China's Vice Premier Liu He (R) in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on February 21, 2019 in Washington, DC. - Top Chinese and US trade officials returned to the bargaining table Thursday as the two sides worked to bridge a chasm between the world's two largest economies. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2019, file photo, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, while they line up for a group photo at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. China's economy czar is going to Washington for talks Thursday and Friday aimed at ending a tariff war over Beijing's technology ambitions.(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

(190327) -- BOAO, March 27, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Ban Ki-moon, chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), as well as some members of the BFA board of directors in Boao, south China's Hainan Province, March 27, 2019. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

(190327) -- BOAO, March 27, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Ban Ki-moon, chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), as well as some members of the BFA board of directors in Boao, south China's Hainan Province, March 27, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the annual Boao Forum for Asia in China’s southern Hainan province on Thursday. Photo: Winson Wong

China and America can’t afford walking away without a deal from trade talks, says former US ambassador Max Baucus

Max Baucus made his comments at the Boao Forum in southern China. Photo: Boao Forum for Asia

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un following a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi on February 27, 2019. (Photo by Saul LOEB / AFP)

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2018 file photo, a staff member uses a laptop at a display for 5G wireless technology from Chinese technology firm Huawei at the PT Expo in Beijing. The European Commission recommends member countries share information as part of new cybersecurity measures for next-generation mobile networks. However, the commission is ducking U.S. calls to ban Chinese tech supplier Huawei. The executive Commission on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 released its roadmap for securing new ultrafast fifth-generation, or 5G, telecom systems that European Union countries will soon start rolling out. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

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Hong Kong

Politics

‘We will keep rolling out policies facilitating the flow of people between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau,’ Li tells Boao Forum


‘We will keep rolling out policies facilitating the flow of people between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau,’ Li tells Boao Forum.


Boao Forum for Asia

Li Keqiang