Hong Kong must prioritise Greater Bay Area goals, watch out for local impact of integration, ex-city leader CY Leung says
- Former chief executive says Hong Kong has ‘finite’ resources, cannot cover all bases in ambitious development zone
- Two-day International Bay Area Summit, where Leung was speaking, also featured video address by city leader John Lee, who hailed potential of Northern Metropolis
Hong Kong must prioritise its goals in the Greater Bay Area amid “finite” resources while watching out for the local impact of integration into the fast-moving development zone, an ex-city leader has said.
Former chief executive Leung Chun-ying on Monday urged the financial hub to carefully plan its strategy during a speech at the two-day International Bay Area Summit, organised by the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences.
“We need to prioritise geography and sectors. Hong Kong cannot cover all nine cities fully and equally in one goal,” he said, citing “finite” resources.
Beijing’s plan for the Greater Bay Area envisions linking up 11 southern Chinese cities, including Hong Kong, to tap the development potential of its combined of 86 million-strong population.
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While Leung stopped short of detailing how Hong Kong should prioritise, he touted Nansha district, an area of Guangzhou, and its place at the geographical heart of the bay area. Leung founded Minxin Hong Kong School there last year on a pro-bono basis to cater to students from Hong Kong.
The vice-chairman of national advisory body the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference also said Hong Kong’s strength was in finance, trade, innovation and professional services.
The city should start with setting up a “bridgehead, a forward base and then a cluster for Hong Kong to acclimatise, to sharpen our skills, to build networks and grow to a critical mass”, Leung said. He argued the step-by-step approach would help Hong Kong “more fully engage” with all bay area plans.
But he also warned: “We need to monitor the various impacts on Hong Kong for being part of, and for entering and engaging a huge, fast-growing and fast-opening up neighbourhood.”
He cited Hong Kong’s Ocean Park as an example, arguing it had faced intense competition since the opening of Chimelong Paradise and its affiliated water park in Guangzhou.
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Ocean Park, which has faced declining patron numbers due to tough pandemic restrictions and protests over the past three years, racked up nearly HK$1.82 billion (US$234 million) in losses in the latest financial year, despite a HK$5.4 billion government bailout in 2020-21.
“This is just one example to tell us that we need to look both ways at competition as well as prospects,” Leung said.
In a video address at the summit, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the city’s Northern Metropolis development, an initiative to turn the upper reaches of Hong Kong into an innovation-led area with additional housing, would provide a platform for tech talent in the region.
“Hong Kong’s role as a key link between our country and the world is elevated to a new height,” he said, highlighting the city’s international outlook.
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Vice-Minister of Science and Technology Zhang Guangjun said President Xi Jinping had affirmed the nation’s support for Hong Kong to help it unleash its unique strength, adding that his department would also be looking out for the city’s interests.
Lu Xinning, deputy director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, said the Greater Bay Area would be a role model for the country’s opening up through coordination of the technology sector and other “high-quality” developments – a term frequently employed by the Chinese leadership to refer to the growth of more advanced tech capabilities during last year’s 20th party congress.
She also said the recent development of ChatGPT, a conversational chat bot unveiled by Microsoft-backed OpenAI in November, provided food for thought for both Hong Kong and Beijing in devising their own plans to implement similar artificial intelligence tools.
