Chinese Premier Li Keqiang flies in to chart Macau’s new course
Sources expect casino hub to eventually become a key centre for yuan settlement for the Portuguese-speaking world
Beijing will set down a significant marker on Monday when Premier Li Keqiang arrives in Macau for a three-day visit, during which he hopes to boost China’s economic clout in the developing world and chart a new course for the world’s richest gaming hub.
Sources have said the visit could see the announcement of plans for Macau to become a key centre for yuan settlement. Under such an arrangement, the financial sector in the former Portuguese enclave would become a clearing house for huge investment deals with countries like Angola, Brazil and Mozambique.
Some believe the importance Beijing is giving to this forum – the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation Between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries – is also intended as a message to Hong Kong about the benefits of cooperation amid ongoing political turmoil in the bigger special administrative region.
Li’s arrival follows a meeting between Costa and President Xi Jinping in Beijing at the weekend where Xi said China would encourage more of its companies to invest in Portugal in areas like finance, insurance, health care and infrastructure.