POLITICs
prises to head abroad and enhance their internationalisation.
Wang Fuqiang told our reporter that the Greater Bay Area is dis-
tinctively different from the greater Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
“Coordinated development across the world is largely advanced with-
in a country or between two countries. But it never existed within
one country but under two systems and with three different customs
areas,” he said. “The biggest challenge is the two systems and it re-
mains a big problem to coordinate because the economic systems and
governance structure differ in the Greater Bay Area.”
Wang said that over the years, cities on the Chinese mainland have
become more willing to forge closer economic ties with Hong Kong,
adding that Hong Kong is sometimes unwilling to talk directly with
cities in the Pearl Delta Region and Guangdong Province, while it is
willing to communicate with the central government directly. “Hong
Kong thinks that it represents a unique system and with such a way of
thinking, coordinating with mainland partners remains a challenge,”
he said.
Role Change
According to Guo Wanda, executive vice president of the China
Development Institute, a mainland think tank, the concept of the
Greater Bay Area has been discussed for many years and was added
to the government work report this year largely because of the 20th
anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the
United Kingdom to China.
“The Greater Bay Area initiative was proposed to boost the local
economy and most importantly to maintain prosperity and stability
in Hong Kong and Macau and bolster coordination and cooperation
in the area,” he told ChinaReport. “The Greater Bay Area is an im-
portant platform for practicing One Country, Two Systems, which is
the biggest differentiator between it and other city clusters in China.
“Many places across the country are busy establishing free-trade
zones. Hong Kong and Macau champion free trade and it would be
a waste if we do not make full use of these mature platforms. Another
motivation to initiate the Greater Bay Area is to solve the problems of
Hong Kong and Macau themselves,” he said.
Hong Kong is fundamentally an urban economy with a population
of seven million and area of roughly 1,000 square kilometres. Wang
Fuqiang told our reporter that over the past 20 years since Hong
Kong was returned to China, the central government in Beijing has
unveiled a package of policies to boost Hong Kong’s economy and
maintain social stability, but the effects have been limited. He said
that Hong Kong has maintained only relatively low economic growth
in recent years, and it is restrained by its geographic barriers, aging
population and widening income gap as well as the low recognition
of the mainland by the general public, which was even lower than in
1997.
“The preferential policies made by the central government have
benefited a minority of people, which has aggravated social inequality.
Many young people see no hope and began to vent their anger toward
the central government,” he said.
Official statistics showed that Hong Kong’s GDP accounted for
12.25 percent of China’s in 1978, and it soared to nearly 25 percent
by 1997. By 2016, however, it had shrunk as a proportion of 2.
percent, showing the weakening position of the region. That’s likely
to become even smaller if Hong Kong does not join the Greater Bay
Area. Wang said that the feedback from the general public in Hong
Kong is quite positive towards the Greater Bay Area, which is quite
unusual.
“Over the years, it is Guangdong Province that has been more will-
ing to cooperate with Hong Kong, but recently their roles have some-
what switched,” Wang told ChinaReport.
In late April 2017, Leung Chun-ying (also known as CY Leung),
chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,
visited several mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area with a team
of senior officials. Jeffrey Lam, a member of the Legislative Council
(LegCo) of Hong Kong, was one of the visiting members and told
ChinaReport that they visited all the cities in the west of the Pearl
River Delta, and hopes that these western cities will catch up with
cities in eastern areas soon.
“It’s a real hindrance for Hong Kong to be restrained by the lack
of free movement of people, logistics and cash flow. If the Greater
Bay Area is established, it will be a boon for Hong Kong. I think it’s
a seat reserved for Hong Kong by the central government,” said Lam.
“The Belt and Road initiative is a long-term national strategy involv-The Zhuhai section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau BridgePhoto by VCG