Shenzhen should expand to better complement Hong Kong, a leading think-tank in Guangdong has proposed.
The special economic zone should expand its land area as well as its area of governance, said the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences in its study of Shenzhen's development strategy. The institute said the measures would solve Shenzhen's long-standing problem of having insufficient land.
Institute director Liu Pinan said Shenzhen had three available options for merging with neighbours Dongguan and Huizhou, but he declined to discuss them.
Some academics in Guangdong say the most ambitious option is to incorporate Dongguan and Huizhou, which occupy 2,465 sq km and 11,158 sq km respectively, into a Greater Shenzhen special economic zone, while the minimal approach is to merge Shenzhen with several towns in Dongguan and Huizhou.
'Shenzhen should serve as an economic hinterland which helps maintain the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong,' Professor Liu said, adding that a greater Shenzhen special economic zone could better serve that goal. He said the expansion of Shenzhen could result in the better use of resources.
The study said elevating Shenzhen's status to a municipality would 'facilitate co-operation' between it and Hong Kong. At present, both have to conduct dialogue through Guangdong's authorities. If Shenzhen were a municipality, it could conduct 'direct dialogue' with Hong Kong, he said.
