Official visits vital to Hong Kong’s push to change overseas perceptions and clear up confusion, finance chief Paul Chan says
- Financial Secretary Paul Chan wraps up Paris visit, which he says has helped ‘clarify rumours’ and ‘clear up misunderstandings’
- Chan heads to US next in first delegation with Macau and Guangdong officials to promote exchanges and cooperation in areas such as climate change
Official visits are vital to Hong Kong’s efforts to help people overseas better understand the city and clear up misunderstandings, the finance chief has said, pointing to a host of meetings he attended during his latest trip to Paris.
“Participants told us the importance of the government actively going out and engaging with friends from different sectors,” Chan said on his blog on Sunday.
“By addressing questions directly and engaging in deep exchanges, we not only provide them with comprehensive information on Hong Kong and the understanding of the city’s developments in this new stage, but also better clarify rumours and clear up misunderstandings.”
The bay area refers to Beijing’s ambitious plan to transform Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland Chinese cities into an integrated hi-tech, economic powerhouse by 2035.
The city’s officials have been making overseas visits to “tell the Hong Kong story well” and counter the negative narrative they said had been shaped by the double whammy of the 2019 social unrest, as well as the economic and social consequences of anti-pandemic curbs.
Chan will travel to the United States on Monday as part of the first joint delegation with Macau and Guangdong officials to promote exchanges and cooperation in areas such as climate change.
Addressing the France visit, Chan said he also met and engaged in discussions with local business, financial, technology and art communities, with the aim of fostering collaboration opportunities.
“Whether it was the economic and trade cooperation forum or other meetings, I reiterated to the political, business and financial leaders in France the unique advantages of Hong Kong,” Chan said.
He added that under the “one country, two systems” governing principle, the city had maintained the rule of law and the common law system to ensure the free flow of capital, goods, people and information.
Hong Kong also enjoyed a simple and low tax regime and a linked exchange system with the US dollar, he said, adding the city’s businesses were efficient operators and applied best practices aligning with international standards.
“Both new and existing friends from France whom I met expressed a deep interest in the latest developments in Hong Kong and the opportunities presented by the Greater Bay Area,” Chan said.
He added they acknowledged the city was still full of opportunities as long as it continued to leverage its advantages despite the complex geopolitical situation.
“I also had French friends who told me that they visited Hong Kong after the pandemic and felt that Hong Kong, in its new stage of development, was just as impressive as before,” he said.
The finance chief noted the Hong Kong Trade Development Council had established a pavilion for the first time at VivaTech, the largest tech start-up exhibition in Europe, featuring 14 promising businesses from the city.
He said the city would expand its participation in VivaTech next year and extended an invitation to the organisers to consider hosting exhibitions and events in Hong Kong.
The minister’s four-day visit to the US will include stops in San Francisco and Berkeley in California.
It will be his second visit to San Francisco in six months, after he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit there in November last year.
