China’s Greater Bay Area stymied by lack of coordination and research facilities, review finds

Study identifies areas that are holding back Beijing’s plan to turn Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong into a hi-tech hub

‘The region needs a boost in attracting international innovation resources,’ says Zhu Xiaodan, who led the review

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China wants to transform Shenzhen and 10 other southern cities into a hub to rival Silicon Valley. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:00am, 24 Jul 2020Updated: 2:15pm, 24 Jul 2020

A review of the Greater Bay Area in southern China has identified shortcomings that have slowed progress on Beijing’s plan for the region to become a hi-tech hub, including not enough research facilities and poor coordination and flow of talent and capital between the cities.

The findings were presented at a meeting of the national political advisory body on Wednesday by Zhu Xiaodan, who heads its Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese committee that carried out the review.

Senior Communist Party leader and chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Wang Yang also addressed the gathering in Beijing, calling for efforts to integrate the area and turn it into a global innovation centre, state news agency Xinhua reported.

China announced its plan for the region in 2017, aiming to transform it into a hub to rival San Francisco’s Silicon Valley. A development plan was released in February last year, covering Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and seven other cities in Guangdong province.

More detailed plans were released by Guangdong and Shenzhen earlier this month.

But momentum has been lost amid anti-government protests in Hong Kong, the global coronavirus pandemic, and the deepening rift between China and the United States over technology exports, intellectual property rights protection and the national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong.