Chief Executive Donald Tsang shakes hands with Premier Wen Jiabao upon arrival at Zhongnanhai in Beijing Thursday afternoon on the last day of his annual duty visit. Wen advised the city to maintain financial stability and plan for its long-term development. Gis Photo

'HK did well in financial crisis but needs to tackle acute conflicts'

Premier Wen Jiabao has set three tasks to be undertaken by Hong Kong while he praised the SAR for doing well during a difficult 2010.

Meeting Chief Executive Donald Tsang in Beijing Thursday, the Premier cited Hong Kong's financial competitiveness as needing improvement, resolution of what he termed "acute conflicts" arising from economic and social development, and planning for the city's long-term development.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Tsang said the conflicts that Wen referred to were issues like the flush of liquidity in the market and inflationary pressure.

"The impacts brought by the financial tsunami are not all over yet and they would affect the economy and quality of life issues," Tsang said. "Coupled with huge influx of foreign capital and the Quantitative Easing II exercise of the US government, the pressure of inflation on Hong Kong, the mainland and everywhere is so huge that we need to be highly wary of this and tackle it with effective measures."

Premier Wen heard the Chief Executive's briefing on Hong Kong's developments on the last day of Tsang's four-day itinerary. At the commencement of the meeting, Wen said 2010 had not been an easy year for Hong Kong, as the shadow of the global financial crisis has not fully dispersed, yet the city has done quite well in many aspects: Not only has economic growth been recorded for four consecutive quarters, unemployment has also dropped to a two-year low, while consumer confidence is also rising.

"This reflects the ability of the SAR government and the people of Hong Kong to respond to crisis," said Wen.

Tsang quoted the Premier as saying that the Central Government would fully consider the views of Hong Kong in charting the 12th Five-Year Plan so as to promote the SAR's economic and social development by enhancing cooperation and exchanges between it and the mainland.

Earlier Thursday, Tsang paid a visit to Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, and Wang Guangya, director of the Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office. It was the first official meeting between Tsang and Wang, who took office in October. Tsang has invited Wang to visit Hong Kong. Wang's reply was positive, Tsang said, but no date has been fixed.

China Daily

(HK Edition 12/24/2010 page1)