Premier Zhu Rongji Press Conference

（单词翻译）

Interpreter: Thank you. I’m from ATV of Hong Kong. It’s true that as you mentioned earlier Hong Kong does have certain advantages as compared with cities on the mainland. But we have noted¹ that major cities on the mainland are also growing very rapidly and they are catching² up really fast and these major cities know their position very well in the overall economic plan of this country whereas in contrast, Hong Kong is not so sure about its role. So could you talk more specifically about the role that Hong Kong can play in the future because people in Hong Kong are quite concerned. Over the past 20 years, Hong Kong has been very helpful in enabling the mainland to get lots of inflow of foreign capital but they worry that such a role might ¹⁾diminish and even disappear.

Interpreter: Hong Kong used to serve as the financial center in Asia and Hong Kong is also famous for its very good social and cultural ²⁾environment in many other areas. In the 1970s and 1980s no city made more ³⁾contribution than Hong Kong through China’s reform and opening up program. In the future, because of the growth of the world economy, there might be the need for Hong Kong to readjust its role. And I think this is a subject of discussion among the ⁴⁾elites of Hong Kong and we are also having a discussion with Hong Kong’s SAR officials and people from Hong Kong about this subject. I always firmly believe that Hong Kong’s strong points have not been fully⁴ utilized⁵ so I think that Hong Kong would have no limits in further developing its roles in the future. As I said earlier, no city on the mainland is able to replace Hong Kong in the near term. So we should all have confidence that these objectives will be achieved. CE

23、朱镕基总理记者招待会

香港亚视记者∶谢谢！总理你好。我是香港亚洲电视台记者李彤。我想请问一下，刚才你也提到香港比起内地的其它城市有一定的优势，但是我们也看到一个事实，就是现在内地很多大城市发展得很快，也追赶得很快。尤其是他们在国家整个经济的战略发展里找到自己的定位。但是香港在这方面还不是太确切自己应该扮演一个怎样的角色？请教一下总理，能不能具体跟我们讲一下，您觉得香港在未来可以扮演一个什么样的角色？因为我们都很担心，像过去20多年引入外资的角色可能要失去了。

朱镕基∶香港曾经扮演着亚洲金融中心地位的作用，同时，也在其它领域里是一个文明的国际城市。我想这种优势香港并没有丧失。特别是在70、80年代的时候，香港对于中国的改革开放所作出的贡献是第一位的。今后随着世界经济的发展，我想香港的地位应该做一些调整。所有香港的精英都在为这个问题进行探讨。我们也愿意和香港特区政府，和香港人民一起来探讨这个问题。但是，我始终坚信，香港的优势还没有完全的发挥，它将来的地位是不可限量的。我刚才已经说过，没有任何一个内地的城市可以在近期代替香港。我希望我们都应该有信心，我们的目标一定能够达到。CE