The visit to the Greater Bay Area of the Hong Kong mainstream media executives with the highest standard and the most breakthrough has been successfully concluded a few days ago (February 25).
The most memorable scene for many group members was standing on the 40th floor of the "Hetao-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Collaborative Innovation Center" building, looking at the sights on both sides of the Shenzhen River through the glass wall-Shenzhen is full of high-rise buildings, and Hong Kong is full of fish ponds .
Huang Wei, secretary of the Futian District Party Committee who was in charge of the introduction at the time, described it as "a wonder of the world". "It is said that Hong Kong is highly dense, but there is an idyllic scenery there, which shows that Hong Kong is not without land." Yes; and Huang Wei can switch between Mandarin and Cantonese freely, which also made the group members shine. Some people laughed and said, "The Mandarin of Hong Kong senior officials is not as fluent as Secretary Futian's Cantonese."
When Huang Wei, secretary of the Futian District Party Committee, introduced Hetao to the Hong Kong media executives visiting the Greater Bay Area, he could switch between Mandarin and Cantonese freely, which made the group members' eyes shine.
(Photo by Huang Yunna)
Wonderful metaphor of the Hetao "world wonders"
The delegation was co-ordinated by the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government, with Lu Xinning, its deputy director, as an advisor. 18 mainstream media including "Hong Kong 01" were invited to attend. "Shenzhen" and "an important node city" Dongguan are the first to look for "a new chapter in Hong Kong" in "recreating a new Guangdong".
In Shenzhen, the delegation climbed to the 40th floor of Building 1 of Hetao-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Collaborative Innovation Center in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, and was received by Huang Wei, secretary of the Shenzhen Futian District Party Committee.
"This is the 'Wonder of the World'!" Huang Wei led the group members to the glass wall in the southeast corner, pointing to the banks of the Shenzhen River in front of them and said, "Shenzhen is full of tall buildings and busy traffic; on the other side, the rural scenery is quiet and beautiful. That's Hong Kong", and then he talked endlessly about the "three wonders" of "Wonders of the World".
The first wonder is the development of a miracle - in 1992, both sides of the Shenzhen River were fish ponds and farmland. After just 30 years, the coast of Shenzhen has developed into a modern metropolis.
The second oddity is a strange myth - people usually think that Hong Kong has insufficient land and dense buildings, "but there is just an idyllic scenery there."
The third oddity is a strange history - in 1951, the British Hong Kong government designated about 28 square kilometers of land south of the border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen as a "restricted area" in accordance with the "Public Security Ordinance". to cut your fellow countrymen in two."
Huang Wei, Secretary of the Futian District Party Committee, described the development of the Loop as a "world wonder". There are many high-rise buildings along the coast of Shenzhen, while fish ponds are full of fish ponds along the coast of Hong Kong.
(Visual China)
Describing Hong Kong and Shenzhen as "Beauty Made in Heaven"
"The basic conclusion is that Hong Kong is not without land, it's as simple as that. To a certain extent, the available land in Hong Kong is even much richer than that in Shenzhen." Huang Wei continued, after the efforts of previous SAR governments, the frontier closed area is now gradually lifted, and The Loop currently has the conditions for development, and it is even more necessary for the governments of Shenzhen and Hong Kong to find common goals and work together.
The media executives at the scene all said that what Huang Wei said was true.
Huang Wei then described the cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong as "a beauty made in heaven": Hong Kong has some advantages that coincide with Shenzhen's shortcomings, such as world-class universities, international laws, and global connectivity; at the same time, Hong Kong has some weaknesses, such as small space, High costs, insufficient market capacity, low ability to transform scientific research, etc., all happen to be Shenzhen's strengths; therefore, the two parties can definitely learn from each other's strengths and make better use of synergy.
"Secretary Huang speaks our mind!" "Hong Kong really needs to catch up!" "I really don't understand why Hong Kong doesn't want to develop the Loop!" Listening to Huang Wei's objective comments and looking at the Hong Kong fish pond, the members of the visiting group couldn't help whispering .
In fact, the SAR government's attitude towards the development of the Loop or even Hong Kong-Shenzhen cooperation has long been criticized, and has only improved in recent years.
Huang Wei described the cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong as "a beauty made in heaven", which requires both parties to find common goals and learn from each other's strengths.
(Photo by Huang Yunna)
Anson Chan presses the "pause button"
As early as 1985, after the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong and Shenzhen had jointly discussed border development, including harnessing the Shenzhen River, setting up the Huanggang Port, and jointly developing the New Territories North. However, due to the major cross-border infrastructure involved, the progress was quite slow.
By 1991, members of the Shenzhen Political Consultative Conference successively submitted proposals for Hong Kong-Shenzhen border cooperation. For example, Wen Huotai, the former chairman of the Xintian Rural Committee known as the "King of the Royal Bus", invited scholars from the two places to carry out cross-border transportation. , Futian Free Trade Zone, and Hetao Cross-border Science and Technology Park, and the research team has met with the Shenzhen Municipal Government, the port office, the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Region Office of the State Council, and even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The possibility of integrated development between Hong Kong and Shenzhen .
"We all feel that this matter can be done after Hong Kong's return to the motherland." Zhang Keke, a consultant of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao Science and Technology Alliance who participated in the research, once told "Hong Kong 01" that the team had done a project covering 7.9 square kilometers around the "cross-border science and technology park". Land, planning blueprints across Shenzhen Bay, Hetao, and Xintian, and even put forward the concepts of "co-location, two inspections" and "cooperation along the riverside economic belt on both sides of the river". It is expected that after the return of Hong Kong in 1997, Realize one by one.
A delegation of Hong Kong media executives visited Shenzhen's "Hetao-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Collaborative Innovation Center" and felt that Hong Kong needs to catch up.
(Photo by Huang Yunna)
Partition Passive VS Active Fusion
Unfortunately, things backfired.
Shortly after the reunification, the Shenzhen team invited Leung Chun-ying, then a member of the Executive Council, as a legal adviser in order to confirm land ownership and legal issues, and obtained the consent of the Hong Kong and Macau Office of the State Council to continue to promote the "integrated development" of the border.
However, the Hong Kong team led by the then Chief Secretary for Administration, Anson Chan, was full of "divisional thinking" and refused Shenzhen's "interference" in the affairs of the Loop area on the grounds that "the Loop has been allocated to Hong Kong in accordance with international law".
Since then, the development of New Territories North has almost hit the "pause button".
It was not until 2005 that the then Chief Executive Donald Tsang proposed in his "Policy Address" to reduce the scope of the frontier closed area, which was gradually reduced to 4 square kilometers in 2008. He also suggested for the first time that the Hong Kong and Shenzhen governments jointly develop the Loop area.
The research institutes of the two places also frequently launched the "Hong Kong-Shenzhen Cooperation Forum" and used "Hong Kong-Shenzhen International Metropolis" as a strategic concept to discuss inter-city integration and coordination. Finally, the governments of the two places can meet again for consultation.
The research team of Wen Huotai and Zhang Keke even published the article "New Thoughts on the Cooperation and Development of "One River and Two Banks" between Hong Kong and Shenzhen" during the government's public consultation in 2008. From the perspective of Hong Kong-Shenzhen cooperation, the area east of the Loop District was planned and reconstructed. New Territories North.
However, since the US subprime mortgage crisis triggered a global financial tsunami, Hong Kong had no choice but to concentrate on coping with it. After recovery, it benefited from the real estate and financial prosperity created by the influx of hot money, and the issue of Hong Kong-Shenzhen integration was once again left behind.
Taking a closer look at "New Thoughts on the Cooperation and Development of Hong Kong and Shenzhen "One River and Two Banks"" published by Wen Huotai in 2008 and "Northern Metropolitan Area Development Strategy" published by Carrie Lam in 2021, it is not difficult to find the "two cities" mentioned in the latter. "Three Circles", in fact, is in the same line as planned by the former.
(Hong Kong 01)
After restarting, press the "acceleration key"
Until October 2021, then Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor proposed the "Northern Metropolitan Area" in her last "Policy Address", and announced the "Northern Metropolitan Area Development Strategy" at the same night-the SAR government finally took a historic step in the integration of Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
However, if you look closely at Wen Huotai's "One River and Two Banks" and Carrie Lam's "Development Strategy", it is not difficult to find the "two cities and three circles" mentioned by the latter, namely "Hong Kong-Shenzhen close interaction circle", "Shenzhen Bay high-quality The functions of the “development circle” and the “Dapeng Bay/Yinzhoutang Ecological Recreation Tourism Circle” are actually in line with the former plan—that is to say, the historic step of the SAR government has been delayed for 13 years, and it is in line with It’s not that far off a step that should have been taken 13 years ago.
Furthermore, after the "Northern Metropolitan Area" was proposed, there has been little movement in the past year or so.
Until yesterday (February 27), Deputy Financial Secretary Huang Weilun led a delegation of the SAR government to Shenzhen, and held the first "Development Strategies of the Northern Metropolis" with the delegation of the Shenzhen Municipal Government led by Executive Vice Mayor Huang Min. Meetings", and exchanged views on areas of co-operation and connection between the "Northern Capital" such as cross-border transportation, port planning, Qianhai development, and the construction of the Lok Ma Chau Loop.
Deputy Financial Secretary Huang Weilun led a delegation from the SAR government to Shenzhen, and held the first "Special Class Meeting on the Development Strategy of the Northern Metropolis" with the Shenzhen Municipal Government delegation led by Executive Vice Mayor Huang Min.
(Huang Weilun Facebook picture)
Senior officials break stereotypes
The lagging progress of the Loop is just the epitome of the slow integration of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. It is indeed "a wonder of the world" as Huang Wei said.
No wonder the head of the visiting delegation, Li Dahong, also specifically mentioned that he "very empathizes" with Huang Wei's words when summarizing the itinerary.
He believes that Hong Kong people in the past could create Hong Kong miracles under the Lion Rock, and Shenzhen people after the "reform and opening up" created Shenzhen miracles under the Lotus Mountain. In the future, as long as Hong Kong and Shenzhen cooperate closely and complement each other's strengths, they will surely be able to create even greater miracles.
It is worth mentioning that Huang Wei from Shanxi, during the briefing for the visiting group, switched between Mandarin and Cantonese freely throughout the whole process, which made the group members' eyes shine. fluent in Cantonese".
And when the reporter accompanying the group asked Huang Wei if he could leave his contact information, he also generously took out his mobile phone, opened WeChat, and let everyone "scan the QR code to add friends". comminicate.
In fact, the Hong Kong media executives visited Guangdong this time, which was of a very high standard and a breakthrough. They were interviewed and chatted with Huang Kunming, Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, and hosted a banquet by Lin Keqing, Secretary of the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee, Meng Fanli, Secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee, and Xiao Yafei, Secretary of the Dongguan Municipal Party Committee. They are all willing to exchange WeChat with the media executives, and promise to provide convenience and guarantee for future interviews.
Looking back at Hong Kong, do you still want to remain unchanged?
