SCIO briefing on China's commerce development in 2015

Phoenix TV:

I have one question about Hong Kong. After the Occupy Central incident, another violent episode happened in Mongkok during the Spring Festival. Under such circumstance, will there be some adjustments to free trade policies for Hong Kong? Thank you.

Gao Hucheng:

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a society based on the rule of law. The central government believes in the Hong Kong government and firmly supports it to govern the area according to the laws and maintain the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong society. This will not change. The Ministry of Commerce will continue pushing forward the economic and trade exchanges and cooperation with Hong Kong, and support Hong Kong's economic development according to the principle of "one country, two systems." We are paying attention to the work in four main aspects.

First, we will implement the agreement on trade service signed between the mainland and Hong Kong under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA). You may remember that the central government once promised that, by the end of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, which was the end of 2015, the mainland would basically realize free trade in services. We would also improve the level of cooperation in the service industry between the two sides by implementing this agreement.

Second, we will support Hong Kong to give full play to its advantages in finanial and professional services and participate in the construction of "Belt and Road Initiative." At the same time, we support enterprises from both sides to work together to invest in and explore international markets. In this aspect, Hong Kong has its own soft power. For example, we have started to test it in some of our overseas projects by inviting Hong Kong personnel to provide supervisory services.

Third, we continue supporting Hong Kong to participate in international and regional economic cooperation, thereby cementing and improving its status as an international financial, trade and shipping center. The central government also actively promotes FTA negotiations between Hong Kong and the ASEAN. I can tell you the negotiation has made positive progress.

Fourth, we support Hong Kong to participate in the establishment of four trial free trade zones of mainland, especially in the construction of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone. Since the Guangdong zone was set up in last April, Hong Kong has been playing an active role in finance and transportation. And in the pilot zone, there are many opening-up policies and areas that can be described as "specially designed" for further promoting the cooperation between Guangdong Province and Hong Kong. At the same time, we will continue supporting Hong Kong and let it share the policy dividend from our opening-up and reform policy even more, and we will work hard for Hong Kong's economic development. Thank you.