Hong Kong important to China's reform: official

Secretary for financial services and the treasury of Hong Kong Wednesday underscored the region's role in China's financial and economic reform.

"I think the whole marriage between the Hong Kong capital and the Chinese economy is a prime example of how Hong Kong can serve the needs of finances and push for reform in China," K.C. Chan told a group of Chicago business leaders and financial executives at a meeting at the University Club of Chicago.

As a global financial center, Hong Kong is important to the country's development and helps change the culture of Chinese corporations and transform the Chinese economy.

Hong Kong's economy is doing well, attracting many foreign companies to set up operations in the financial sector and establish flagship retail stores and regional headquarters to manage their businesses in China and other parts of Asia, Chan said.

Hong Kong has the infrastructure and connections with the rest of the world to provide financial services needed by Chinese companies, he said.

In the last 20 years, Chinese companies raised capital in the Hong Kong market and in next 10 to 20 years, Chinese companies and investors may want to invest capital overseas, Chan added.

The large accumulative savings in China should not be confined to the domestic market and Chinese regulators should allow the money to go overseas and welcome overseas money into their market at the same time, he contended.

Hong Kong will continue to serve as a financial center for all these transactions, he added.