New | Closer ties ‘will benefit not hinder’ Hong Kong: top Chinese official lashes Moody’s credit downgrade
Top minister latest to defend city as Moody’s points to mainland risk in outlook downgrade
Top Chinese official says Hong Kong will benefit from closer ties with the nation, hitting back at Moody’s decision to cut the city’s long-term debt outlook because of its increasing linkages between the two sides.
The financial market between the mainland and Hong Kong will also see closer cooperation as the much-anticipated plan connecting the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges will likely be launched in the second half of this year.
Qian Keming, vice commerce minister, said the mainland’s economic development would offer increasing opportunities to Hong Kong and more cooperation would benefit both sides.
“In particular, the One Belt One Road [strategy] will offer business opportunities to Hong Kong because the city has its unique advantages as an international financial centre,” Qian said in a press conference in Beijing yesterday.
READ MORE: Hong Kong’s credit rating risks cut as financial secretary blasts Moody’s assessment as ‘mistake’
Qian was in respond to Moody’s decision to downgrade Hong Kong’s credit-rating outlook because of the city’s reliance on trade amid the mainland’s slowing economy, close links in financial market and evidence of interference from the mainland in Hong Kong’s political formulation and implementation.