Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday pledged to grant greater market access for investment from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
According with the South China Morning Pos , 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
“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.”
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.(Macaunews)
