Beijing’s Xia Baolong urges Hong Kong airport officials to leverage city’s unique advantages
- Beijing’s point man on Hong Kong affairs issues call to action as he meets delegation led by Airport Authority chairman Fred Lam in nation’s capital
Xia Baolong, the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, issued the call on Thursday as he met authority chairman Fred Lam Tin-fuk, who was leading a delegation to the capital.
“Mr Xia encouraged the management team to fully support Chief Executive John Lee [Ka-chiu] and the [city] government in administering Hong Kong in accordance with the law, while further leveraging the unique position and strengths bestowed to Hong Kong under one country, two systems, and continuing to make contributions to national development,” the authority said in a statement.
The body also said the top Beijing official had praised the efforts and achievements of Hong Kong’s airport over the past few years.
Lam promised Xia that the airport would capitalise on its advantages of “enjoying the strong support of the motherland and connecting closely to the world”, and would develop the facility into an international aviation hub.
Lau Siu-kai, a consultant at the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said the meeting aligned with Beijing’s goal of developing Hong Kong into an international aviation hub under the “eight centres” policy, while Xia had potentially used the exchange to understand the city’s development better.
The eight centres are outlined in the 14th five-year plan as international finance, innovation and technology, cultural exchange, trade, shipping, aviation, legal and dispute resolution services, and intellectual property.
“The pressing task now should be linking Hong Kong and countries along the belt and road more closely,” he said, referring to the Belt and Road Initiative earlier launched by China to promote trade and economic integration across Asia, Europe and Africa.
The academic said the move would help the city become a centre for the ambitious initiative, as well as ensuring it could tap into more development opportunities.
The Transport and Logistics Bureau said at the time that the Airport Authority had also spoken with non-local airlines about launching new flight routes to and from Hong Kong.
