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SHENZHEN (Bloomberg): President Xi Jinping called for new measures to encourage Hong Kong youth to move to China, part of measures to integrate the semi-autonomous territory with the mainland following student-led protests last year.
The push aims to “deepen integration” among young people in Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong province to “increase their sense of belonging to the motherland,” the Chinese president said in a speech on Wednesday (October 14) in Shenzhen to commemorate the 40th anniversary. from the technological center becoming a special economic zone.
China should “fully utilize the important Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao cooperation platform to attract more young people from Hong Kong and Macao to study, work and live on the mainland,” he said.
Hong Kong CEO Carrie Lam was in the speech audience in neighboring Shenzhen, whose skyline is visible in parts of the Asian financial center.
She canceled her annual policy speech scheduled for Wednesday to attend the event and now plans to do so at the end of next month or earlier after consulting with officials in Beijing.
Business groups have raised concerns about Hong Kong’s autonomy from the mainland in the wake of new national security legislation imposed by Xi in June.
The law, intended to quell protests that turned violent last year, came as the city seeks to revive an economy hit by unrest and the pandemic.
Shenzhen is a cornerstone of the Greater Xi Bay Area, which aims to unite the mainland’s cities with Hong Kong and Macau to establish a regional powerhouse to rival Silicon Valley. Xi’s speech encouraged greater overall cooperation with China.
“We must also continue to encourage and guide our compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, as well as overseas Chinese to play their important roles in investment, entrepreneurship and two-way openness so that they can make further contributions to development. economic zones, “he said.
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