China's central government will continue to promote and support state-owned enterprises (SOEs) by deepening strategic cooperation with Hong Kong's capital market, a government official said.

Jia Like, a senior official from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), said on Tuesday at a forum in Beijing that the SASAC would continue to guide SOEs to further integrate themselves into Hong Kong's capital market, according to Chinese media outlet The Paper.

Between 2018 and 2019, SOEs raised more than 80 billion yuan ($11 billion) in equity and 400 billion yuan in bonds through the Hong Kong market, according to the SASAC.

Hong Kong will continue to play an indispensable role in terms of boosting the high-quality development of SOEs, guiding them to become top-level enterprises with global competitiveness, Jia said.

Hong Tao, director of the Institute of Business Economics at Beijing Technology and Business University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that Hong Kong's status as a strategic buffer zone exists objectively. 

"Although Hong Kong's contribution to the GDP of the whole country has decreased, that cannot measure its status and role as an international financial center," he said.

Lu Zhengwei, chief economist of Industrial Bank Corp, told the Global Times on Wednesday that deeper integration in the future will be mutually beneficial to Hong Kong's capital market and SOEs. 

"The main purpose of SOEs integrating into Hong Kong is to set up branches and listings," Lu said.

Hong Kong welcomes all eligible issuers, including SOEs from the Chinese mainland, to list in Hong Kong and make good use of the city's financial services, a source from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited told the Global Times on Wednesday.