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The assertion that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has become a "ruin of an international financial center" is groundless, as the basic elements underpinning Hong Kong's status as a global financial center have not changed, and the region has been further leveraging its role as a super connector between the Chinese mainland and the rest of the world, Brian David Li Man-bun, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and co-chief executive of the Bank of East Asia (BEA), told the Global Times on Thursday.

"Hong Kong has a number of competitive edges in the global financial market, including the common law system, a simple low tax system and professional services and regulatory systems that are in line with international standards," Li said.

BEA is a Hong Kong public bank based in the HKSAR.

He also highlighted the guarantee on free flows of capital under the Basic Law, good financial infrastructure, a stable and favorable business environment as well as a stable and efficient banking system, among other things.

In 2022, Hong Kong received a total of $117.7 billion in foreign direct investment, ranking fourth in the world after the US, the Chinese mainland and Singapore, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

In addition, "Hong Kong has made significant progress in such finance-related sectors as green finance, fintech and offshore yuan business, which also paves the way for its development," Li added.

As a next step, Li suggested that Hong Kong integrate further into the national development, and make a greater contribution to the country's high-level opening-up. These efforts would also be conducive to enhancing the city's global financial status, while providing a solid foundation for its economic recovery this year.

The Central Financial Work Conference held last October called for accelerating the building of a nation with a strong financial sector. Pan Gongsheng, the governor of the People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank, said at a press briefing on Wednesday that expanding opening-up is an important propeller and assurance of the high-quality development of China's financial industry.

Li noted that Hong Kong, as the world's largest offshore yuan business center, has an outsize role to play in facilitating the globalization of the yuan.

"More countries and regions have shown concern about excessive reliance on the US dollar amid rising geopolitical tensions, and many, having strong confidence in the Chinese mainland's economic outlook, have boosted their use of the yuan in payments, investments and reserves," Li explained.

Li also urged Hong Kong to double down on its efforts to expand issues of yuan-denominated financial products, such as promoting the Hong Kong dollar-yuan dual-currency share counter service across the equity market.

Li, as a veteran banker, has witnessed the rising asset management demand of Chinese mainland residents in the past decade, which he said was partly thanks to the expansion of the 400 million middle-income populations.

He suggested expanding the scope of the financial connect programs between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, in addition to the Stock, Bond and Cross-Boundary Wealth Management connects.

The Stock Connect, announced in 2014, now contributes 11 percent of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd's revenue, and 15 percent of average daily turnover in Hong Kong, according to a report by Fitch Ratings.

The average daily turnover of the Bond Connect surged to almost 49 billion yuan in January 2024 from 3.6 billion yuan in 2018, the report said.

Liu Qingfeng, a deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Chinese AI company iFlytek, put forward a motion suggesting the country formulate an AGI (artificial general intelligence) development plan, aiming to promote the systematic growth of the country's AGI sector, while narrowing the technology gap between China and the US, according to a document sent to the Global Times on Tuesday by iFlytek.

The development plan could be initiated and implemented at the state level, in a bid to continuously narrow the gap between the US and China in AGI general base platforms and shore up China's industrial AI applications, according to Liu.

The plan should make up for the shortcomings in the Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan released in 2017, to cater to a wide range of aspects from forming independent and controllable computing power, high-quality data sharing to cultivation of talent in AGI development.

Liu proposed nine measures to accelerate the development of the AGI sector.

For instance, Liu vowed to ramp up support for the research and development (R&D) of China's general large language models (LLMs) in the form of special projects targeting power, data and algorithms in the upcoming five years.

Liu suggested local governments support R&D for LLMs and the construction of infrastructure for developing AGI industrial ecosystem, while formulating new policies to promote the application of large-scale models in sectors such as manufacturing.

Regarding global cooperation, Liu proposed to set up cooperation projects under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, supporting the R&D of multilingual LLMs and their broad applications.

Liu also proposed to accelerate the formation of an independent and controllable ecosystem centered on domestically developed LLMs, while propelling China's vigorous development in the ecology construction utilizing the AI Plus initiative.

China will step up research and development (R&D) and application of big data and AI, launch an AI Plus initiative, and build digital industry clusters with international competitiveness, according to a government work report submitted to the NPC for deliberation.

Meanwhile, China vows to rely on scientific and technological innovation to lead the modernization of its industrial system and move faster to develop new quality productive forces in the Government Work Report.

iFlytek has integrated its LLMs into various sectors from education, healthcare, to the legal profession, and has been cooperating with major players from 12 industries to release corresponding LLMS, covering finance, automotive, culture and tourism, along with other ones since October 2023, the company said in a separate statement sent to the Global Times.

Amid China's rapid development of emerging industries including AI, some provincial plans have already covered the building of pilot zones focused on future industries such as quantum tech, 6G, life science, AI, and humanoid robotics.

For instance, South China's Guangdong Province released 22 measures to develop local AGI sector in November 2023, with a goal to achieve the largest scale of intelligent computing power in the country while obtaining a leading position worldwide.

China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) now is accelerating the economic integration and coordination with surrounding regions as the area has become one of the most promising growth poles of the worlds. 

As of now, the economic aggregate of the GBA has surpassed 13 trillion yuan ($1.83 trillion), as its patent ability has topped among global four bay areas, said Liu Jieyi, spokesperson for the second session of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee. 

Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on February 18, 2019, issued the outline development plan for the GBA. In the past five years, the GBA has become one of the most open and economically dynamic areas in China, which was planned to be fostered as a leading region for Chinese path to civilization and high-quality development, said Liu.  

CPPCC has been paying attention to the economic development of Hong Kong and Macao basing on the master development plan of the GBA, including promoting regional integrated development and policy coordination. 

The construction of multiple cooperation zones such as Hengqin, Qianhai and Nansha was highlighted to support the master plan, and the CPPCC will further accelerated the connectivity of infrastructure and policy in the region, Liu noted.  

During the 2024 Spring Festival holidays, people in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao made a total of 5.01 million of cross-boundary trips, and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge facilitated record volume of passenger and vehicle.  

Data from Hong Kong tourism authority showed that the occupancy of Hong Kong’s hotel crossed 80 percent during the holiday, indicated increasing connectivity among peoples in the GBA and integrated development trend, said Liu.  

China’s central government announced on February 23 this year to expand the Individual Visit Scheme to Qingdao in East China’s Shandong Province and Xi'an in Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, which allowed solo travel of residents from the two cities to Hong Kong from March 3, further uplift personnel flow and release consumption potential. 

AutoFlight, a domestic pioneer in electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), has conducted what it says the world's first inter-city electric air-taxi demonstration flight in South China's Guangdong Province.

The flight took place on Tuesday between Shenzhen and Zhuhai, which aims to promote activity in low-altitude airspace. The general aviation sector will play a dominant role in that effort, which will include eVTOL aircraft.

The flight took off from Shekou Cruise Home Port in Shenzhen and landed in Jiuzhou Port in neighboring Zhuhai. The straight-line distance between the two places is less than five kilometers, but traveling by car means taking a detour by way of the Nansha Bridge or Humen Bridge, which can take two to three hours.

The flight will provide a faster option for passengers shuttling between Shenzhen and Zhuhai, said AutoFlight. The aircraft is expected to cut the need for traditional airports and runways and shorten the inter-city trip to just 20 minutes.

The company said that the core modules are domestically produced. The craft is designed to carry five people at up to 200 kilometers per hour, and it can operate for up to 250 kilometers on a single charge. According to the company, it's the only aircraft in the world with that flight range.

It's applying for an airworthiness certificate and is expected to start regular passenger flights in 2026.

The successful maiden flight underscores China's rising competitiveness in terms of research and development in aviation. The aircraft may also be used for logistics and sightseeing, said market insiders.

Many companies around the world aim to produce and operate such aircraft, Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday. It will serve booming transportation demand in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Wang added. 

The fast development of the low-altitude economy in Shenzhen is backed by China's growing efforts in the field, including policy support. Chinese policymakers have attached great importance to the development of the low-altitude economy as a strategic emerging sector, experts said.

The estimated value of the nation's low-altitude economy surpassed 500 billion yuan ($70 billion) in 2023, which is expected to quadruple by 2030, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. There are 689 general aviation firms in China, with 3,173 general aviation aircraft and 451 general aviation airports.

By the end of 2023, there were more than 1,700 drone companies in Shenzhen, a global innovation hub, with an annual output value of 96 billion yuan.

Among the provinces and cities across China that have recently released their population data for 2023, the net inflow of population in Northeast China's Jilin and Liaoning provinces is worth noting. 

While Jilin experienced a net inflow of 43,400 people, putting an end to the trend of population outflow that had persisted for nearly 13 years, Liaoning witnessed a net inflow of 86,000 people, marking the conclusion of a trend of population loss that had lasted for almost 11 years.

GDP growth rates of each province in 2023 have also been released, with Jilin and Liaoning outperforming the national average.

Does the continuous popularity of winter tourism in Northeast China, along with the recent population changes and economic data in Jilin and Liaoning provinces, suggest that the economic and population development in the Northeast region may be starting to reverse its decline and return toward a growth trajectory?

The revitalization of Northeast China has been a topic of continuous attention. One common mistake in past discussions about the development of the region is the reversal of cause and result. Issues such as population size are not the reasons for the relatively lackluster development of Northeast China over recent years, but rather the results. To observe the opportunities and challenges facing the current development of Northeast China, it is necessary to have a historical perspective.

In history, the Northeast region of China, due to its geographical and climatic factors, has not been a densely populated, culturally developed, or commercially prosperous area. In modern times, the rise of the Northeast region can be attributed to three main reasons:

First, the Industrial Revolution that emerged in the 18th century, which led to a significant increase in the global demand for raw materials such as coal, steel, and timber. This shift in demand caused a change in the economic development orientation of regions.

Second, during the process of globalization, multiple countries have frequently engaged in geopolitical conflicts to compete for resources.

Third, given the technological level and geographical conditions at the time, the development of traditional economically advanced regions had reached a bottleneck, temporarily unable to provide more economic opportunities and employment. As a result, more businesses and individuals chose to return or relocate to underdeveloped areas in search of new opportunities.

At that time, the Northeast region relied on its abundant natural resource reserves, the influx of residents from inland regions, and its advantageous geographical location at the junction of multiple countries in the Far East, leading to a rapid economic takeoff.

In the 1920s, Harbin rapidly became an important transportation and distribution center in Northeast China.

During the Cold War, the development advantages of the Northeast were also evident. In the context of globalization being hindered and intensified geopolitical conflicts, the Northeast region played an irreplaceable role as a resource and industrial base for national security. As a result, it received relatively more national investment and planned immigration, and achieved outstanding economic and social development results.

Following the end of the Cold War, with the further advancement of reform and opening-up, the rapid development of the global market, and the emergence of a new wave of non-industrial technological revolution such as the internet, the macroeconomic factors that previously drove the economic boom in the Northeast region gradually faded, leading to temporary difficulties in the economic and social development of the Northeast.

Based on the above logic, it seems that macroeconomic factors are once again favoring this part of China. 

First, an industrial revolution in high-quality development industries represented by new-energy vehicles (NEVs) and lithium batteries is emerging. With its favorable resource endowment and industrial foundation, the Northeast region is embracing this wave of industrial transformation.

Once the industrial structure and consumer market are established, they will continue to exert force, becoming long-term factors stimulating a new round of economic growth in the Northeast region. 

The Northeast region is also actively cultivating strategic emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, advanced manufacturing, and electronic information, fostering future industries, accelerating the formation of new quality productivity, and enhancing the development of new momentum.

Second, there has been a new setback in economic globalization. Against the backdrop of a global economic downturn, developed Western countries have resorted to measures such as technological sanctions, trade barriers, investment restrictions, and military conflicts to safeguard their own interests and target their "opponents." 

This has caused cracks in the efficiency-driven globalization system that was built on Chinese production capacity, Western capital, Middle East's energy, and raw materials from Asia and Africa. 

Developing domestic industrial centers, raw material bases and regional consumer markets that meet their own economic needs, has become the focus emphasized by many countries. This will be a key factor affecting the development of not only the Northeast region but also many inland regions of China in the medium term.

As the traditional business and trade hubs experience a slowdown in providing employment opportunities, people are once again turning their attention to regions where factor prices are still underdeveloped. 

In the past, people flocked to the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions, attracted by better development opportunities. Once the efforts and rewards are not closely connected and prospects become uncertain, some individuals will lean toward pursuing more stable and fulfilling living or working opportunities. This is one of the reasons why the Northeast region has recently gained traction on social media and is a short-term factor influencing the local economy and population structure.

On the whole, the comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China is facing new significant opportunities. With the emergence of various favorable macroeconomic factors, the new round of development in the Northeast region has begun to take shape. 

Staying abreast of trends of the times, consistently enacting market-oriented reforms, attracting top-tier talent, enhancing the legal framework, achieving self-reliance and advancement in cutting-edge technology, and converting short-term traffic surges into sustained growth are the enduring strategies for the economic and social progress of the Northeast region.

Multiple foreign-funded financial institutions have released their financial results for 2023, reporting remarkable performances in the Chinese market while expressing confidence in the growth opportunities in the market in the medium to long term.

Analysts said that the resilience of the world's second-largest economy, massive market size and earnest implementation of policies in promoting high-level opening-up have stabilized foreign enterprises' expectations, adding that foreign capital will continue to flow into China in 2024 amid a positive GDP forecast of around 5 percent this year.

By continuing to seize opportunities in China, Standard Chartered said that profit before tax generated from its onshore and offshore China business reached $1.3 billion in 2023, nearly achieving the $1.4 billion target a year ahead of the group's plan. Onshore income in China hit a record high last year, up 4 percent year-on-year, according to a press release the bank sent to the Global Times on Friday.

The group expressed confidence in seizing the long-term opportunities that China's opening-up generates for its business.

"By continuing to give play to the unique advantage of foreign banks and putting a focus on areas including cross-border finance, green finance and wealth management in 2024, we will fully play the role as 'superconnector' between China and the rest of the world to contribute to the real economy and support China's high-quality development," Zhang Xiaolei, head of Standard Chartered China, was quoted as saying.

HSBC data showed that the group's profits grew significantly in 2023 in China and other fast-growing economies, with the Chinese mainland, India and Singapore each contributing in excess of $1 billion of profits to the group.

"We remain confident in the resilience of the Chinese economy, and the growth opportunities in the Chinese mainland over the medium to long term," Noel Quinn, group chief executive of HSBC, said in the company's financial report.

Hong Kong's connectivity, both globally and to the Chinese mainland, is helping us to grow our franchise. We have increased our market share in trade in Hong Kong by 6.6 percentage points over the last three years, Quinn said, citing data from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University, told the Global Times on Sunday that China's remarkable economic growth of 5.2 percent in 2023 as well as stepped-up macro-policies to ensure a stable economic recovery and the earnest implementation of a flurry of measures in promoting high-level opening-up have increased foreign financial institutions' confidence in the economy.

The net inflow of equity-based foreign direct investment in 2023 stood at $62.1 billion, with the net inflow in the fourth quarter reaching a two-year high, showing that more foreign investors have invested in China and allocated yuan-denominated assets, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Sunday.

As one of the world's most vibrant economies, China is expected to post GDP growth of about 5 percent in 2024. Its stable economic recovery and the implementation of support policies are expected to attract more foreign enterprises to invest in China, Cao said.

The Bank of East Asia said in its 2023 financial report that from electric vehicles to major retail brands, Chinese champions are forging into the lead both domestically and abroad. The bank is targeting the future by developing a wide range of clients in the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong who will profit from these exciting trends.

In January 2024, the National Development and Reform Commission launched the seventh batch of landmark foreign-invested projects. With total planned investment of more than $15 billion, the new batch of 11 foreign-funded projects involve biomedicine, automobile manufacturing, batteries for new-energy vehicles and chemicals. After the Spring Festival holidays, the construction of these projects reportedly got a fast boost.

This year will be important for the recovery of the economy, during which China is expected to expand opening-up in more sectors and at higher levels, Wei Jianguo, former Chinese vice minister of commerce and executive deputy director of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Global Times.

In recent years, China has implemented a series of measures to encourage foreign investment, for example, clearing manufacturing items on the negative list for foreign investment in pilot free-trade zones, and supporting foreign companies in setting up research and development centers, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday said that it will continue to give full play to the role of a roundtable meeting system for foreign-funded enterprises this year to effectively enhance mutual trust between the government and enterprises, while enhancing the predictability and transparency of policies.

China's Foreign Ministry (FM) said on Friday that US claims about national security concerns related to China-made cranes are completely unfounded, and vowed to protect the legal rights of Chinese enterprises.

Mao Ning, spokesperson for the FM, made the comments during a regular press conference on Friday following a claim from a senior executive at Los Angeles Port that China-made cranes pose a potential risk to US national security.

China firmly opposes the US overstretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to go after Chinese products and companies, said Mao, adding that weaponizing economic and trade issues will exacerbate security risks in global industrial and supply chains and inevitably backfire.

"The US needs to respect the principles of the market economy and fair competition, and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies. China will continue to firmly protect the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies," said Mao.

A Wall Street Journal report said that the administration of President Joe Biden plans to invest billions in the domestic manufacturing of cargo cranes used at US ports. The administration aims to replace China-built cranes, which it claims contain advanced software that poses a so-called potential national security risk.

However, observers believe that Biden's domestic manufacturing replacement plan is unlikely to succeed as it would require a huge amount of investment from the federal government. In addition, the senior executive from Los Angeles Port also noted a shortage of other countries that build the giant container-moving machines.

According to senior administration officials, 80 percent of ship-to-shore cranes moving trade at US ports were manufactured in China, CNBC reported.

Chinese airlines are planning to add more flights to cope with surging outbound travel demand with the implementation of visa reciprocity policies between China and many countries.

China Eastern Airlines plans to launch a route from Beijing Daxing to Kuala Lumpur on January 31, with four flights every week, Guo Ting, a market manager from China Eastern Airlines told the Global Times on Friday.

The number of overseas routes operated by China Eastern at Daxing airport will reach eight by then, Guo added.

The outbound travel is expected to reach a new peak during this year's Spring Festival period brought by more overseas destinations implementing visa-free policies to Chinese travelers, Guo said.

The remarks came at the first day of China's 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which the airport predicted that it will handle 5.5 million passenger trips for the travel rush until March 5.
Our outbound travel demand is surging recently, for example, the demand for the route between Beijing Daxing to Doha launched in October of last year is rising, and we deploy wide-body aircraft to cope with the demand, Liu Zheng, a manager from Xiamen Airlines told the Global Times.

Both inbound and outbound travel at Beijing Daxing International Airport has continued to increase as the airport has formally restarted such services on January 17, 2023. The inbound and outbound passenger trips in 2023 reached 2 million, and the airport has opened more than 30 overseas routes by the end of 2023.

The inbound and outbound passenger trips in 2024 of the airport are expected to exceed four million, Wang Qiang, deputy general manager of aviation business department of Beijing Daxing International Airport told the Global Times.

Shanghai-based Spring Airlines also told the Global Times on Friday that it will resume, add or increase 64 routes in this Chinese Lunar New Year travel rush, most of which are international routes.

Beijing Capital International Airport expected that overseas passenger flow will reach 1.41 million passenger trips during the period, with an average of 35,000 per day.

Chinese market watchers attributed to the rising demand to the visa exemption launched by more countries, and the latest example is that China and Singapore on Thursday agreed on mutual visa exemption, which will officially come into effect on February 9, 2024.

To date, China has established mutual visa exemption agreements with 157 countries, covering various types of passports. It has also reached agreements or arrangements to simplify visa procedures with 44 countries and has achieved comprehensive mutual visa exemption with 22 countries, including Singapore, the Maldives, and Kazakhstan.

In addition, over 60 countries and regions offer visa-free entry or visa-on-arrival facilities to Chinese citizens.

Various airlines have proposed to arrange more than 2,500 new international scheduled flights and overtime charter flights during the Spring Festival travel period, and the most of newly planned will be the markets in Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea and other surrounding countries and regions, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on January 8.

The Chinese stock market rallied on Tuesday after hitting the three-year low, boosted by a State Council meeting vowing to take "stronger, more effective measures" to stabilize the capital market and improve market confidence.

Analysts are generally positive about the prospect of China's stock market, which has become one of the most attractive markets globally in terms of valuation of shares.

The Shanghai Component Index closed up 0.59 percent to 2,770.98 on Tuesday, the Shenzhen Composite Index rose by 1.38 percent to 8,596.28. The tech-heavy ChiNext index went up by 1.24 percent to 1,687.61.

Stocks of many Shanghai State-owned enterprises staged a stellar performance, with companies including Shanghai Phoenix Enterprise (Group) Co, Shanghai Material Trading Co, Capital Securities Co and China Television Media rising by the daily limit.

A meeting of the State Council, the cabinet, held on Monday pledged "stronger, more effective measures" to stabilize the market and improve market confidence.

Efforts will be made to enhance the innovation and coordination of policy tools, consolidate and strengthen the trend of economic recovery, and promote the stable and healthy development of the capital market, according to meeting notes.

According to a report by Bloomberg Tuesday, relevant Chinese authorities are seeking to mobilize about 2 trillion yuan ($278 billion), mainly coming from offshore accounts of state-owned enterprises, as part of a stabilization fund to buy shares onshore through the Hong Kong exchange link.

In Hong Kong market, the Hang Seng Index rose by 3.26 percent to 15,448.54 points as of 2:30 pm Tuesday, regaining the psychological threshold of 15,000.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government is closely following Hong Kong equity market fluctuations, and considers the market still operating in an orderly fashion without abnormal phenomenon, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday.

As an international financial hub, Hong Kong SAR remains competitive and attractive. Hong Kong enjoys free capital flows, highly transparent operations and sound supervision system, according to Lee. He said the equity market fluctuations are mainly due to market factors, calling for investors to make decisions by closely following market changes.

The Chinese stock market has become one of the most attractive markets across the world in terms of share valuation. The valuation of A-shares is about half that of US market stocks, Zhu Liang, chief investment officer of AllianceBernstein's office in China, said in a note sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.

China is the world's largest foreign trade country and its capital market is a venue that could provide good yields. Currently, investors across the globe are quietly paying attention to A-share market, Zhu said, noting that they are "waiting for wind." In 2024, listed Chinese companies are expected to maintain a good profit growth, with the growth rate of earnings per share (EPS) expected to be around 17 percent, Zhu said.

People's Bank of China says it will cut commercial lenders' reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points on February 5