Top mainland Chinese think tank sets up shop in Hong Kong, with Belt and Road mission

Arrival of body led by former senior officials marks push to soft-sell Beijing policies and spread influence, say observers

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The ‘Greater Bay Area’ aims to link Hong Kong and Macau and nine other Guangdong cities, including Shenzhen (pictured). Photo: Roy Issa

Published: 10:00pm, 11 Nov 2017Updated: 5:40pm, 13 Nov 2017

A top mainland think tank led by former high-ranking Chinese officials will have a branch in Hong Kong from Sunday aimed at helping the city buy into two large Beijing-backed economic plans.

Observers said the new arrival marked an effort from the capital to sell national policies to the city and around the world. It is the second big mainland think tank to extend its operations to the city in as many months, after the ministerial-level research institute Chinese Academy of Social Sciences set up a Hong Kong branch in September.

The Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG) is co-chaired by Ronnie Chan Chichung, chairman of Hong Kong’s Hang Lung Group, He Yafei, a former vice-minister of China’s foreign ministry, and Long Yongtu, a former vice-minister at the Chinese ministry of commerce, who was also chief negotiator during China’s accession into the World Trade Organisation.

The Beijing-based think tank has divisions across China, including in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Qingdao.

Ronnie Chan, chairman of the Hang Lung Group, is one of the CCG’s co-chairs. Photo: Sam Tsang

Its new branch, called the CCG Hong Kong Council, is set up in a bid to “gather Hong Kong’s top talents in various sectors” to help the city play key roles in the “Belt and Road Initiative” and the “Greater Bay Area” development, a media statement said.

Launched in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the “Belt and Road Initiative” is a strategy to open up trade along land and sea corridors spanning more than 65 countries. The “Greater Bay Area” is the national development scheme to link Hong Kong, Macau and other nine cities in Guangdong province into an integrated economic and business hub.

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