All of a sudden, there is much hot talk about closer co-operation between Guangdong and Hong Kong under a blueprint championed by the new Guangdong party chief, Wang Yang . He advocates 'liberalised thinking' in developing a special co-operation sphere between the province and the Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions.
There has often been criticism that Hong Kong has a lukewarm approach towards any such ideas of deep integration with the mainland. The irony, though, is that whenever there are any calls from senior officials, there is always a chorus of supportive voices - even though the rhetoric is seldom matched by action and firm commitments. The fact remains that people on both sides are still uncertain of the benefits, forms and long-term implications of integration.
Guangdong used to be the big brother and centre of activities in south China until the nationwide economic and political upheaval from the 1950s until the 1970s brought growth to a virtual stop. By the time the mainland began to open up, in the 1980s, Hong Kong had turned around to become the leading economic player and key investor in Guangdong, which benefited immensely from its proximity to Hong Kong, acting as the 'factory' supplying to the Hong Kong 'shop'.
Thirty years later, Guangdong is now a thriving economy on its own. It is no longer just Hong Kong's factory, but neither has it acquired the kind of sophisticated financial infrastructure and international connections possessed by Hong Kong, which is so essential to its further growth as it transits from an extensive stage of development to an intensive one.
Inasmuch as Hong Kong needs to find a way out of its past export-led growth model, Guangdong must seek a breakthrough from its current bottleneck. The two economies can be highly complementary provided there is enough mutual recognition of interdependence and the need for economic restructuring.
The long standstill until most recently over the building of the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge is a good illustration of the lack of such recognition in the past. During the 1990s, Guangdong felt a strong need for such a bridge because of the urge to link up with Hong Kong in order to reach out. Then, because of the lukewarm reaction from Hong Kong, Guangdong began to change tack by ruling out the SAR in its new self-sufficiency growth strategy and transport infrastructure planning. Its interest in the bridge declined.