Shanghai and Hong Kong are friendly rivals but the east China metropolis is poised to become the region's largest semi-conductor production base, Shanghai Mayor Xu Kuangdi said yesterday.
Mr Xu addressed a wide range of issues, including the health of the city's economy and government corruption.
On Shanghai's often competitive relationship with Hong Kong, Mr Xu said he expected the two cities to remain friendly rivals over the coming years, nurturing each other's strengths to realise common ambitions.
He compared the relationship between the two with two strikers competing on the same football team. 'No matter who scores the goal, the team will win,' he said.
But he was not shy in predicting that Shanghai would become the largest semi-conductor production base in the region.
Integrated circuits would become an important source of municipal development as the Government sought to establish 10 production lines in the city's Pudong New Area over the next decade, Mr Xu said.
'In that sense it will become the largest production base in East Asia,' he said. 'Shanghai's semi-conductor and micro-electronics industry will witness tremendous progress in the coming five years.'
