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| Wednesday, 1 September 2004 |
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China steps up charm offensive ahead of HK polls HONG KONG, Tuesday (Reuters) Beijing will invite Hong Kong investors to take part in more than 100 business ventures this week in what many in the city see as another attempt to boost nationalist sentiment ahead of legislative elections next month. Officials from the Chinese capital will invite Hong Kong investors to bid on more than 110 projects worth over $12 billion over a two-day forum here starting on Thursday. The forum comes just days before Sept. 12, when Hong Kong holds legislative elections in which pro-democracy candidates are expected to make big gains. "I think one of the intentions of many recent moves by China, including this one, is to win the hearts of Hong Kong people and push up support for pro-Beijing candidates," said Timothy Wong, a political analyst at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Many of the projects involve infrastructure and sporting venues for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The rest will cover tourism, culture, education, manufacturing and agriculture. Hong Kong's 60-seat legislature has been dominated by pro-government and pro-Beijing lawmakers since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Half of the seats are elected by professional groups, which are largely pro-China, and the other 30 via proportional representation, which fragments the total vote and makes it more difficult for any single party to secure large numbers of seats. Ahead of the elections, Beijing has increasingly peppered Hong Kong with economic incentives that serve as a reminder to the city of the enormous advantages of being a part of China, the economic powerhouse of Asia. |
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