Editorial | Upgrading Shenzhen’s status would make it a more formidable rival
- Talk of upgrading Shenzhen to be a municipality puts Hong Kong on notice that it faces challenges of integration with the mainland that can only be met with social stability and economic innovation and enterprise
The administrative structure of urban and regional government in mainland China might seem to have little to do with Hong Kong. But that is far from the case in the latest debate on proposals to upgrade selected cities to municipalities similar to top-tier metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai, to meet the need for more growth hubs for nearby regions.
Writing in the journal Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researchers from the Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modelling argue that under an administrative framework developed in the 1960s, China’s development is now too uneven, and that it needs perhaps two dozen nucleus cities to become regional engines of growth.
Once a city became a municipality, it would be directly under Beijing’s control, exempt from local taxes and fiscally supported by the central government. Its political clout would grow and it would become the natural centre of gravity of regional economic activities.
Shenzhen has been promoting its case for an upgrade to municipality status for 20 years. It is already the biggest and fastest-growing economy in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). With or without the upgrade, Shenzhen will most likely emerge as the centre of gravity in the GBA within 10 years.