China’s big Shenzhen plans aim to transform the Greater Bay Area, and Hong Kong’s role is critical

Shenzhen has been the nation’s shining beacon of reform and opening-up for decades, and new guidelines released this week show it will continue to be for years

Deeper institutional reform is greenlit for the southern metropolis just ahead of next month’s three-year anniversary of the Greater Bay Area strategy

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Experts say Shenzhen (pictured) has a lot of growing and developing to do as it strives to be a world-class city, and Hong Kong may serve as a template. Photo: Martin Chan

Published: 12:15pm, 29 Jan 2022

China’s ambitious plan to build a more open economic system in Shenzhen will present neighbouring Hong Kong with an opportunity to benefit from regional reform in the Greater Bay Area and also to serve as a model city that Shenzhen can learn from, according to analysts.

Some argue that Shenzhen still has a lot of growing and developing to do as it strives to be a world-class city, and the new blueprint released this week addresses that by doubling down on the southern Chinese metropolis’s leading role in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

Shenzhen – the nation’s frontier of reform and opening-up for the past four decades – has received the green light to pursue deeper institutional transformations by improving market access in a wide range of sectors.

These cover technology; finance; health care; education and culture; and transport, according to a blueprint jointly published on Wednesday by the National Development and Reform Commission, which is the country’s top economic planner, and the Ministry of Commerce.

The announcement came just ahead of next month’s three-year anniversary of the Greater Bay Area strategy. China is also commemorating the 30th anniversary of former leader Deng Xiaoping’s famous southern tour that had far-reaching implications for China’s economic reform and opening-up.

The document essentially serves as an updated to-do list for a six-year plan (2020-25) to turn Shenzhen into a “pilot demonstration zone for socialism with Chinese characteristics” by 2025.

“Shenzhen aims to be a world city while Hong Kong can serve as a reference,” said Thomas Leung, managing partner of markets at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). “At the same time, Hong Kong is entering a new phase to find its position within the strategic development of China.”