Chinese premier Li Keqiang expresses confidence Hong Kong can solve its own problems
Speaking at end of annual ‘two sessions’ in Beijing, Li pledges support for policies that will keep city prosperous and stable
Premier Li Keqiang has expressed faith in Hongkongers’ ability to solve their own problems wisely as he struck a confident note on the city’s prospects despite gloomy predictions of a slowdown and worsening tension.
Adopting a distinctly gentler tone than Beijing had previously taken, Li yesterday said the central government believed local authorities had “the capability and the public the wisdom to handle all the complex problems and situations facing Hong Kong”.
He made the comment in response to a question from Hong Kong media on the Mong Kok riot and the city’s future, among a slew of questions he tackled at the press conference wrapping up the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress.
READ MORE: Growth target WILL be met: China’s Premier Li Keqiang as he vows cuts in taxes and red tape
Li refrained from commenting specifically on the riot and made no mention of phrases such as “radical separatists”, a term the Foreign Ministry assigned to participants in the unrest shortly after clashes erupted in the Kowloon district last month.
Reiterating the “one country, two systems” principle, he stressed that Beijing “has not changed and will not change” its position, including allowing people in Hong Kong to rule themselves with a high degree of autonomy.
On the path ahead, he said he expected the city to remain stable and prosperous in the long run, pledging “full support” for all policies that Hong Kong wanted to pursue to make it a thriving place.
While giving a sense of optimism about the city’s economic prospects – days after credit rating agency Moody’s changed its long-term debt outlook from stable to negative – Li called on Hong Kong to count on its own efforts and seize the mainland’s opportunities to seek further development.
READ MORE: In brief – Premier Li Keqiang on China’s growth target, US elections, and the future for Hong Kong and Taiwan
“If anyone asks you what’s going on in Hong Kong, I suggest you should say Hong Kong will remain prosperous and stable in the long term,” Li told the Hong Kong journalist.
“I have confidence in Hong Kong’s prospects.”
Li also described Hong Kong’s growth rate of 2.4 per cent last year as “not low” compared with other advanced economies.
The premier pledged “full support” for “whatever the Hong Kong government proposes” as long as it was conducive to long-term stability and Hongkongers’ well-being.
Highlighting Hong Kong’s significance to the nation, Li said development was “what Hong Kong itself needs, and also what the country as a whole needs”.
He also confirmed the long-awaited Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect that will link the two exchanges would be launched this year.
In Hong Kong, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said the city was all geared up for the stock connect.
READ MORE: Hong Kong independence ‘impossible’, says Beijing legal official
Billy Mak Sui-choi, a finance academic at Baptist University, had a more pessimistic take than Li. “As a developed economy, Hong Kong’s GDP growth is only average,” he said.
China watcher Johnny Lau Yui-siu said Li’s relatively mild message was meant to “avoid intensifying public opinion.”
“Beijing knows that in the run-up to the Legislative Council election in September, it has to make a strategic alteration to its tone,” Lau said. “Otherwise the pro-establishment camp will have a more difficult battle to fight.”
Even though Hong Kong delegates had been on the lookout for hints of who the central government would prefer to back in the chief executive election next year, Li steered clear of the subject in keeping with the usual top-level reticence over such decisions.
