File photo shows Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan leaves Peking University with his wife Lien Fang-yu during their visit in Beijing in 2014. [Photo/China Daily] The upcoming visit of Lien Chan, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang in Taiwan, to Beijing next week shows a gesture to ease tensions across the Taiwan Straits, a scholar said on Friday. Lien will lead a delegation to visit the mainland from July 12 to 14, An Fengshan, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, announced on Friday. Following the stop in Beijing, the delegation will visit Liaoning, Jilin and Zhejiang provinces, he said. Lien is also chairman of a foundation on cross-Straits peaceful development. According to Taiwan media, the delegation has about 50 powerful figures from the island, including Terry Guo, founder and chairman of Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and major suppler for Apple. Lien's visit comes amid rising tension between the mainland and Taiwan, as Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen has failed to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, and her right-hand man, the island's executive head Lai Ching-te, publicly called himself a Taiwan independence worker. Scholars have noted that Tsai's recent behavior, such as calling on the international community to constrain the Chinese mainland, courting foreign support and creating hostility among people from the mainland and Taiwan, will enhance confrontation in cross-Straits relations. Wang Hailiang, a Taiwan studies researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said Lien's coming visit is more likely a symbolic gesture that shows Lien's stance to help ease the tension between the mainland and Taiwan. But Lien is no longer the leader of the KMT and the impact of his visit may be limited, Wang said. Lien, who retired as KMT chairman in August 2005, has been an important figure in the history of the relationship between the Communist Party of China and KMT, and in the history of cross-Straits relations. In April 2005, as then KMT leader, he visited the Chinese mainland and met Hu Jintao, then general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, breaking the ice that had existed for half a century. It was the first meeting for leaders of the two parties since 1949. After that, Lien visited the mainland a dozen times, and met general secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping in 2013, 2014 and 2015. black wristbandsrubber wristbandscustom fidgetcustom livestrong bracelets
HONG KONG - Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on Thursday that it has bought Hong Kong dollars from the market for 13 times since last Thursday, which is a normal operation in accordance with the design of the Linked Exchange Rate System (LERS).On April 12, HKMA's weak-side Convertibility Undertaking of 7.85 HK dollars against the US dollars was triggered during London trading hours. HKMA said there is no huge short selling of Hong Kong dollars and the risks are under control after the interventions.Officials and economists here believe that HKMA is capable of dealing with the fluctuation of Hong Kong dollars, and the act of HKMA can normalize Hong Kong interests, reduce sell-off activities and stabilize the exchange rate of Hong Kong dollars.The HKMA bought HK$816 million (about $104.08 million) from the market on April 12, which was the first time since 2005, when three refinements to the operation of the LERS were introduced.As of Friday, HKMA has already bought about HK$51 billion from the foreign exchange market since its first intervention, leaving the surplus in the banking system at HK$128.52 billion on Thursday.The LERS was established in 1983. The introduction of the three refinements to the operation of the LERS in 2005, which included the shifting of the existing weak-side Convertibility Undertaking by the HKMA to sell US dollars to licensed banks from 7.80 to 7.85; since then, the Convertibility Zone lies between 7.75 and 7.85.When the exchange rate between HK dollar and US dollar reaches 7.85, HKMA will buy HK dollars from the market, reducing the capital flows in the local market, which in turn, causing the interest rate of HK dollars to rise and narrowing down the interest rate gap between HK dollars and US dollars. The pace of Hong Kong currency capital flow slowed down, causing the weakening of HK dollar.Howard Lee, Deputy Chief Executive of HKMA, told Xinhua that recently the weak-side Convertibility Undertaking of 7.85 HK dollars against the US dollars has been triggered frequently, as the US interest rate hike first sparked in December, 2015, and there has been six times in total. However, Hong Kong interest rate has never followed suit. Investors then sold off Hong Kong dollars and bought in US dollars, causing a fall of the Hong Kong currency value.Lee said that in the past ten years, there has been about HK$1 trillion entering Hong Kong market, and the arbitrage act is normal. According to HKMA, they have not seen any huge short selling of Hong Kong dollars.Lee said that Hong Kong has enough foreign reserve to deal with the situation. As at the end of January 2018, the monetary base was HK$1,700.5 billion, backing assets was HK$1,836.5 billion.Paul Chan Mo-po, Financial Secretary of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said that Hong Kong has sufficient financial resources to handle the fluctuation of the exchange rate.Chan said he is confident that Hong Kong can handle the extreme case in event of major money outflow.Cheng Shi, Chief Economist of ICBC International Research Limited, said that HKMA's act of buying Hong Kong dollars from the market can normalize Hong Kong interests and stabilize the market expectation.Resilience of Hong Kong's banks and financial system has enhanced since the financial crises in 1998 and 2008, according to HKMA.However, Lee added that HKMA will stay alert and strengthen bank capital and liquidity management and introduce counter-cyclical prudential supervision measures for property mortgage business.The HKMA will also monitor foreign exchange and money market operations, and co-operate with the Securities and Futures Commission to conduct cross-market surveillance.
