Compare the state of the region with the picture painted in the reports published when the Outline Development Plan and the 2022 Foundation’s 221-page examination of the area’s future were launched, and insights emerge – some not complimentary to Hong Kong.
06:19
High hopes for China’s Greater Bay Area, but integrating 11 cities will pose challenges
High hopes for China’s Greater Bay Area, but integrating 11 cities will pose challenges
It has been emphatically overtaken by Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Forgotten are the days, 25 years ago, when Hong Kong accounted for 20 per cent of China’s economy.
08:31
What’s new in Macau: attractions that have opened in the city since the pandemic
What’s new in Macau: attractions that have opened in the city since the pandemic
The data is also a reminder of how the Greater Bay Area remains dominated by just five municipalities. They account for over 83 per cent of the region’s economy.
While Hong Kong still makes a reasonable claim as one of the world’s leading financial hubs, it is worth remembering that Shenzhen’s stock market has more listed companies, and a bigger market capitalisation. Daily stock market turnover is often four to five times larger.
While the Outline Development Plan for the Greater Bay Area provides a powerful summary of where and how interconnection can best be driven, many of the proposed initiatives and priorities still sit in government officials’ in-trays.
05:53
MTR Corp to go big in Greater Bay Area but Hong Kong remains its ‘fillet mignon’, says chairman
MTR Corp to go big in Greater Bay Area but Hong Kong remains its ‘fillet mignon’, says chairman
There has also been little progress in removing the bottlenecks and barriers to the free flow of people, vehicles, goods, telecoms and even currency. This is perhaps inevitable given that Covid-related border controls were only lifted this year, but little practical progress is likely until these fundamental barriers are removed.
Until Beijing enables the development of – and provides funds for – bodies that have the power to bang local officials’ heads together, harmonise regulations and prioritise initiatives in the interests of the region, rather than of individual municipalities, progress is doomed to be slow.
As long as we remain in – but not of – the Greater Bay Area, we will never fully capture the advantages of this fast-developing market. The Outline Development Plan still provides a valuable template. We need to use it.
David Dodwell is CEO of the trade policy and international relations consultancy Strategic Access, focused on developments and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific over the past four decades