Greater Bay Area plan receives mixed reaction in Guangdong province, still work to do for Beijing
- Hi-tech manufacturers, property speculators and market investors who stand to gain support the plan for China’s rival to Silicon Valley and the Tokyo Bay Area
- Export traders and low-tech manufacturers see Beijing’s grand plan as doing little to help their struggle to survive, with fears it could actually increase costs
A blueprint for the “Greater Bay Area” development released this week have received a mixed reaction in Guangdong, the province that is central to Beijing’s grand plan for an innovation and financial powerhouse that will rival Silicon Valley and the Tokyo Bay Area.
The bay area scheme lays out a road map to a new era of opening up, and seeks to join nine developed cities in the province’s Pearl River Delta – Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing – with Hong Kong and Macau into an integrated economic and business hub.
Those who stand to gain from property speculation or the anticipated large foreign capital inflows into financial markets are bullish on the plan, as are those in cutting-edge manufacturing industries, whose development is a top priority of the plan.
On the other hand, those in the traditional, low-tech manufacturing industries that have powered China’s export juggernaut over the last 30 years see little, if any, benefit from the plan.
“Our team read the blueprint carefully. As a mobile robot body manufacturer and intelligent logistics solutions provider, we are so happy to see the area in which we are located will be turned into an international innovation and technology hub,” said Chen Hongbo, vice-president of Jaten Robot & Automation, an industrial robot maker in Foshan.