China’s Greater Bay Area secures solid development
By Liu Lei, He Linping, People’s Daily
Traveling
among China’s Macao, Hong Kong and Guangdong province within a day in an
unrushed manner – it only existed in imagination. However, the construction of
the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is turning this into reality.
The above-mentioned
is the daily routine of Cai Yuanbo, a young entrepreneur who goes to and from
Macao, Hong Kong and Guangdong on a daily basis.
He always departs
Macao at 11:00 am and has lunches with business partners at the central
business district of Hong Kong, and then heads to his office at the Macao-Hengqin
Youth Entrepreneurship Valley (Inno Valley HQ), a startup incubator in
Guangdong’s Zhuhai for meetings with his employees from Chinese mainland and
Macao. After all this, he would return Macao to meet clients.
“The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area
has opened up a new world for entrepreneurs and generated unlimited opportunities,”
said Cai.
The man, in his thirties, started a company at
the Inno Valley HQ this year, and has gained several hundred thousand
registered users on a tourism mobile application he developed with his
partners.
Standing by the Pearl River and the South
China Sea, the Greater Bay Area consists of Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region (SAR), Macao SAR and nine cities in the Pearl
River Delta, such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
The area, which covers a total area of 56,000
square kilometers, had a combined population of approximately 70 million as of
the end of 2017. It is one of the most open and economically vibrant regions in
China.
The Greater Bay Area is developed under the
conditions of one country, two systems, three customs territories and three
currencies, without any precedents both domestically and internationally.
Therefore, for the area, how to bring into
play the comprehensive advantages of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, innovate
institutions and mechanisms, and promote the circulation of production factors
within the framework of the “one country, two systems” policy, the Hong Kong
Basic Law and the Macao Basic Law has become one of the most important and
urgent issues.
On Sept. 23, 2018, the Hong Kong section of
the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link opened to traffic. One month
later, the cross-sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao also opened.
Besides, the Nansha Bridge, which links Guangzhou and Dongguan, started
official operation on April 2, 2019.
So far, four out of the total six passages
planned along the east and west banks of the Pearl River estuary have been
completed and open to traffic.
Infrastructural development is further
strengthened in the area. For instance, large-scale boundary crossings such as
the Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point connecting Shenzhen and Hong
Kong and the new Guangdong-Macao border access (Qingmao Boundary Control Point)
are accelerating their construction.
Guangdong is also building a rapid inter-city
rail transport network, striving to reduce the travelling time among major
cities within the Greater Bay Area to one hour or less.
Qianhai of Shenzhen and Hengqin of Zhuhai
have piloted the Hong Kong engineering construction model and professional
qualifications are gradually mutually recognized among the mainland, Hong Kong
and Macao.
A financial convenience framework has been
established and cross-border mobile payment is now available. Meanwhile,
insurance products bought in Hengqin are now effective in Macao.
Such connectivity has facilitated the efficient
flow of factors such as logistics, capital and information, and enhanced
communication within the Greater Bay Area.
Hong Kong and Macao boast world-class
universities and R&D capabilities to the forefront of global technological
innovation while the Pearl River Delta has the world’s most complete manufacturing
system and industrial chain which make it more adaptive to the market, said Li
Zexiang, a professor with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Li believes such university-industry
cooperation at the Greater Bay Area is sure to trigger chemical reaction and further
spur innovation.
Most of the world’s famous bay areas are
global innovation highlands. To build the Greater Bay Area into a first-rate and
competitive bay area, the priority is to highlight the vital role of innovation
and construct it as an international science and technology innovation center.
Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao need to promote
innovation in technology, industry and system based on local conditions,
outline the blueprint for future industrial research and development, stimulate
the free flow of innovation elements, gather global high-end technology
resources, and build the Greater Bay Area into a land of high-tech innovation.
A series of cooperative platforms are
blooming in the Greater Bay Area, such as the Guangzhou campus of the Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and
Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone and the Traditional Chinese Medicine
Science and Technology Industrial Park of Co-operation between Guangdong and
Macao.
TCL Corp, a Chinese multinational electronics
company headquartered in Huizhou, Guangdong province, has jointly established a
research laboratory with the University of Hong Kong and signed strategic
cooperation agreements with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
and the Chinese University of Hong Kong just one month after the Framework
Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development
of the Bay Area was inked.
At present, Hong Kong and Macao residents do
not need to apply for employment permits before they go to the mainland for
work.
Besides, in the free trade zones of Guangdong’s
Nansha, Qianhai and Hengqin, high-level personnel from Hong Kong and Macao now enjoy
the same income tax rate as they do back home.
Thanks to such favorable policies, more and
more young people from Hong Kong and Macao are starting up businesses in the mainland.
On satellite night view of the Earth, the
Greater Bay Area is one of the brightest areas. A science and technology
innovation corridor gathering innovative resources is emerging in the area,
including the Xili Lake International Science and Education Zone, the Songshan
Lake Xbot Park, the China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City and the Guangzhou
Science City.
With the increasing number of innovation
platforms, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have actively attracted and connected
global innovation resources, and worked closer to cultivate a number of
world-class industrial clusters to enhance economic innovation and
competitiveness.
The photo shows the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao
Bridge (Offered by Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Authority)
China’s Greater Bay Area secures solid development
Reviewed by PEOPLES MAIL
on
08:59
Rating:
No comments: