By Tony Lai
Sleeping dragon?
New bottle, old wine? China’s renaissance? Political mission? The long awaited Greater Bay Area plan still offers little detail on how to bring Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau together.
W 20 APRIL 2019
ith major officials and political heavyweights of the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau governments recently gathering in Asia’s financial hub for preaching from the central government
about the long-awaited regional development plan, a group of investors in a failed residential project in Jiangmen, in Guangdong, protested outside the venue. The 30 investors from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau
held banners declaring ‘Investments in the Greater Bay Area down the drain’ as political elites inside the venue heralded the ambitions and bright prospects of the Greater Bay Area. Is the Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong
Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area a game-changer? Behind the grand vision envisaged by the blueprint, critics say there is scant detail about how this could be turned into reality; namely, how the three different political and economic systems in the region could co-operate and work well together. Originally expected to be unveiled last year – with the
delay widely believed to be caused by the ongoing trade war between China and the United States – the Outline of the Development Plan for the Greater Bay Area was finally unveiled last month. The 26,000-word document describes the Greater Bay Area – comprising nine Guangdong cities, Hong Kong and Macau – as ‘a world class city cluster’ offering the fundamental advantages of distinctive geography, robust economic growth, high concentration of innovation, advanced level of internationalisation, and track record of regional co-operation. Its significance is that it will facilitate the enrichment of the implementation of ‘One country, two systems’ and foster closer co-operation between Mainland China and the two Special Administrative Regions, creating more socio- economic opportunities and maintaining the long-term prosperity of Hong Kong and Macau, the outline reads.
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