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Beijing - China promised on Friday to help Hong Kong weather the global economic crisis by further opening mainland service industries to its companies and encouraging Chinese tourist travel to the territory.
Premier Wen Jiabao told visiting Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang that such steps are among 14 measures approved by Beijing "to support Hong Kong's financial stability and economic development," state television and the government's China News Service said.
Hong Kong has been battered by the slump in demand for Chinese exports, a large share of which pass through the former British colony. Hong Kong is a Chinese territory but has its own currency and trade policy.
Beijing wants to prevent an erosion of pro-mainland sentiment in Hong Kong that has risen with China's economic boom and last summer's Beijing Olympics. Pro-democracy protests and complaints about interference in local government have been constant since the territory came under the communist mainland's control in 1997.
Hong Kong's economy slipped into recession last quarter for the first since 2003, when severe acute respiratory syndrome devastated tourism. The government has cut its 2008 growth forecast from 4% to 5% to 3% to 3.5%.
The mainland will improve Hong Kong's integration with the Pearl River Delta area of China's south, a manufacturing hub that abuts the territory, Wen said in comments shown on Hong Kong television.
Beijing will "take measures to support Hong Kong's domestic industries, especially small and medium-size enterprises that are experiencing difficulties," Wen said.
The premier said Beijing will "increase the opening of mainland service industries to Hong Kong," according to CNS. Finance, accounting and other services are pillars of the Hong Kong economy but the mainland activities of its firms are restricted.
The reports gave no details of the measures and did not say how many were new. Beijing has launched a series of efforts in recent years to integrate Hong Kong's economy more closely with the mainland.
China also will increase the scope of its individual visitor scheme, a system that gives mainland tourists visas to Hong Kong, Wen said. The territory wants to attract more mainland visitors as foreign tourist travel weakens.
- AP