Competing among Hong Kong and Shenzhen Bay Area? Chen Jiaqiang: Economic competition is not a zero-sum game

Political situation

Written by: Peng Zhuowei

2020-10-24 15:10

Last update date: 2020-10-24 15:10

President Xi Jinping attended the 40th anniversary celebration of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone last week and delivered an important speech, mentioning that Shenzhen is an "important engine" for the construction of the Greater Bay Area. It makes people wonder whether Hong Kong's status in the country and the Greater Bay Area has declined.

Chen Jiaqiang, former Secretary of the Bureau of Financial Services and the Treasury and adjunct professor of the School of Business Administration of HKUST, said on the Hong Kong and Taiwan program "Hong Kong Letters" that many people often compare Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The competition is regarded as a zero-sum game, and the synergy effect produced by economic development will be ignored.

On October 14th, at the celebration meeting for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, President Xi Jinping proposed that "Shenzhen is an important engine for the construction of the Greater Bay Area."

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Chen Jiaqiang said that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area plan proposed by the central government and Shenzhen's positioning are of high strategic significance. Shenzhen's development achievements in the past 40 years are obvious to all.

It has transformed from a processing industry center to a world factory, and then an important base for China's high-tech technology. It has nurtured many internationally competitive enterprises, marking China's move from relying on foreign technology to independent innovation.

Chen Jiaqiang said that the central government looks at the development of the country with a strategic mindset, and recognizes that it must continue to improve its own innovation and technology capabilities and establish an internationally influential technological power.

To achieve this goal, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area plan is proposed, emphasizing institutional reforms to make production factors such as human resources and land more effective and improving economic efficiency. It also emphasizes opening up and welcomes international funds and talents to enter the Greater Bay Area.

Hong Kong's financial center will remain important

For those who are concerned about the development of the financial industry in Shenzhen, will Hong Kong's role as a financial center diminish?

Chen Jiaqiang believes that Hong Kong’s financial center will continue to play an important role. "We are an international financial center that complements the financial center of the mainland. Shenzhen and other mainland cities develop finance because they need to mobilize huge domestic funds to support innovative companies. But China Enterprises also have the need to raise funds internationally. This is the role played by the Hong Kong International Financial Center."

He emphasized that the establishment of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area only symbolizes that Hong Kong's role as a financial center will only become more and more important.

Chen Jiaqiang believes that what Hong Kong should be most worried about is not whether Hong Kong will replace other cities or whether the country still values ​​Hong Kong, but what role do we have in the rapid development of the Greater Bay Area?

In addition to our status as an international financial center, are we still competitive in many economic areas?

He emphasized that Hong Kong is not unconditional. Xi Jinping said two years ago that Hong Kong's technological development is an important part of national development and supports Hong Kong's becoming an international innovation and technology center.

Hong Kong has an internationally renowned research university to cooperate with Shenzhen to achieve production, education and research cooperation

Chen Jiaqiang said that Hong Kong has an internationally renowned research university. As long as there is a strategy, it is possible to achieve industry-university-research cooperation with Hong Kong's research and Shenzhen's productivity.

But he believes that if Hong Kong wants to consider the future of young people in the future, "we must ask whether our education system can meet the needs of the high-tech industry, and whether our young people will still be competitive in the future. I think this is the most important thing. The problem".

Regarding some people worrying about Hong Kong being planned, Chen Jiaqiang emphasized that in reality, Hong Kong has fully independent economic development under one country, two systems, and Hong Kong does not need to apply policies to the country for system reform. "Our challenge is to overcome our conservative attitude and dare to think and do." .

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Chen Jiaqiang Xi Jinping