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SCMP Reporters

Chinese President Xi Jinping marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.
He began his tour of the southern province of Guangdong on Monday in the coastal city of Chaozhou, flanked by his entourage and local officials, where he visited factories and urged staff to innovate and be more self-reliant.
Without referring to the trade war with the US, Xi said that China must develop more key technologies on its own to be better prepared to withstand challenges ahead.
“We are on the cusp of unprecedented changes in this century, and we must take a path towards self-reliance, and this means we must become independent in our innovation drive,” Xi was quoted by state broadcaster CCTV as saying.
His tour continued to Shantou, a prefecture-level city of about 5 million people, where he was photographed speaking to a crowd on Tuesday. 
Reporting by Phoebe Zhang, Guo Rui, Kinling Lo, Linda Lew, Zhou Xin, Wendy Wu and Tony Cheung.



As it happened: Chinese President Xi Jinping marks 40 years of Shenzhen opening up with calls to deepen reform

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the Qianhai International Conference Centre in Shenzhen. Photo: CCTV

Chinese President Xi Jinping starts southern tour with call to have confidence in future

News

China

Politics

Xi Jinping visits the city of Chaozhou on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visiting a restaurant at heritage site in Guangdongâs Chaozhou city on Monday 12 October, 2020.  Photo: Xinhua


Xi says city achieved in 40 years what other countries would have taken a century to attain
Shenzhen's new missions include enriching the new implementation of “one country, two systems”, Xi says



Xi marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone with a tour of Guangdong. He began his trip in Chaozhou on Monday, just weeks ahead of a crucial Communist Party meeting in Beijing 


Shenzhen

Xi Jinping

Greater Bay Area

China economy

Live

On Wednesday morning, roads near the Qianhai International Convention Centre were closed and the centre fenced off. 
Security personnel were out in force conducting patrols and a nearby subway station was closed.
Qianhaishi Park, which Chinese President Xi Jinping has visited twice before, was also closed to the public. 
When Xi visited the park in 2018, he said the area’s rapid development showed the “Qianhai mode” works and the experience should be applied to cities across China.
The Qianhai area is a designated free-trade zone and part of an effort to develop China’s Greater Bay Area into a regional economic bloc.   

Photo: Phoebe Zhang


Qianhai on standby

Shenzhen park closes ahead of Xi’s address

Zhou Xin, SCMP political economy news editor:
Xi’s keynote speech is expected to reveal the Chinese leader’s strategic thinking about the country’s future. 
It is taking place just two weeks before a key Communist Party meeting in Beijing at which China’s leadership will endorse the five-year plan for 2021-2025 and a national blueprint for 2035.
Xi is expected to affirm Beijing’s commitment to the path of “reform and opening up”, which generally means economic liberalisation at home and continued economic integration with the rest of the world. 
He might also announce new measures for Shenzhen.
While Xi is not expected to make many references to Hong Kong, Beijing’s focus on Shenzhen as the economic, technological and talent hub for the Greater Bay Area does have huge implications for the future of Hong Kong.   


Analysis

Video: Xi starts tour of southern China

The Shenzhen government has recognised 40 people for their contribution to the city’s development over the past four decades.
Among the recipients is Huo Dawei, a senior research adviser to Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies, and Hopewell Holdings chairman Gordon Wu Ying-sheung.  
But a notable absence from the list is Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s founder and CEO.
The company is a global leader in 5G and is also at the center of the US-China tech war.
Ren’s name also did not appear on the central government’s 2018 list of 100 “reform pioneers” released to mark the 40th anniversary of reforms.
Other Hong Kong recipients on today’s list are Xu Yangsheng, president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Shenzhen branch; and Li Zexiang, professor of engineering at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and head of Googol Technology and drone maker DJI.
 




Shenzhen awards

Security officers patrolling at Menghai station in Shenzhen ahead of Xi Jinping's address, checking IDs and dispersing people. Pic: @dustguest pic.twitter.com/9aLoqoVsVO
— Natalie Koh (@NatalieOnLoop) October 14, 2020


Strict security at Menghai station

Zhou Xin, political economy news editor:
The Chinese official media is attributing the success of Shenzhen largely to decisions made by the Communist Party. 
In celebrating the 40th anniversary of Shenzhen as a special economic zone, Beijing is trying to prove the effectiveness of the country’s model and the legitimacy of the party.   


Xi arrives

Xi Jinping has arrived at the ceremony with the Politburo Standing Committee members, and top leaders from Shenzhen and Hong Kong. 
The ceremony started with the singing of the national anthem.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is on stage with two predecessors, Tung Chee-hwa and Leung Chun-ying.
Like other leaders on the stage, Lam is not wearing a face mask. 



Ceremony begins

Infographic: China’s Silicon Valley

Shenzhen party secretary Wang Weizhong is the first to speak.
Wang paid tribute to Shenzhen’s 40 years as a special economic zone and the support that previous leaders such as Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao gave to the city.

He also highlighted the cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, saying the special economic zone would play an important role in future regional development plans such as the Greater Bay Area.
Wang also said Shenzhen would contribute to innovation and the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.
“Shenzhen’s development is a miracle,” he said.   


‘The miracle of Shenzhen’

There are about 20 official guests on stage, including Macau leader Ho Iat-seng and his predecessor Edmund Ho Hau-wah.
Other guests attending the ceremony include Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei and respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan.
They are not on stage, but they are both wearing masks.



Who’s who?

Chen Zhilie, founder of technology firm Yanxiang, spoke about his journey as an entrepreneur, which started when he moved to Shenzhen from Beijing in the 1990s.
Chen said the company’s development over the last 27 years reflected that of Shenzhen.
He said Shenzhen’s open and flexible market environment had helped hi-tech private enterprises and Yanxiang was thankful for the support that the party had given it.
“We are aiming to become the world’s number one in industrial computers,” Chen said.
“We will strongly embrace the Chinese national spirit and seize the opportunities provided to us.”
Peng Peng, vice-president of the Guangdong System Reform Research Society, a think tank, said: “Chen Zhilie’s speech suggests that the development of hi-tech industries with intellectual property rights will be encouraged ... Yanxiang ... hasn’t been a major presence at government conferences before.”


Seizing the opportunity

Addressing the gathering, President Xi Jinping said the province of Guangdong had been the bridgehead and testing ground for China’s reform and openness, becoming the first in the country to have special economic zones.
“Shenzhen demonstrates socialism with Chinese characteristics,” Xi said.
“Shenzhen’s citizens and cadres have worked hard and taken 40 years to achieve what some people in other countries would take a century to reach.
“This is a global development miracle that the Chinese people have created together”
Photo gallery: Shenzhen Special Economic Zone: 40th anniversary


‘A global miracle’

Attendees taking notes

Xi said Shenzhen’s GDP had grown from 270 million yuan in 1980 to 2.7 trillion yuan in 2019, putting it fifth in Asia.
“Shenzhen has evolved from a backward border town to an influential international metropolis,” he said.
Xi said an important lesson from the development of Shenzhen as a special economic zone was the focus on innovation.
“We have been able to take the initiative in the technology revolution taking place around the globe.”
He also said the past 40 years showed that there were 10 principles that Shenzhen must rely on in the future.
The ninth principle was that mainland authorities must comprehensively and accurately implement the “one country, two systems” principle, and foster the integrated development of the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, Xi said.   


‘One country, two systems’

Xi says the pandemic has accelerated changes around the world. 
At the same time, protectionism and unilateralism has spread, the global economy is under challenge and international trade is shrinking, he says.
“Global security, economic development and politics are all in a period of change. And the world has gone into a shaky and revolutionary period,” Xi says.   


Global uncertainty and the pandemic

40 years of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone

Zhou Xin, political economy news editor:
Xi’s new statement on the international situation reveals that Beijing is seeing growing external risks. Xi said that the world is entering a period of “turbulence and transformation”. He reiterated that the world is undergoing “changes unseen in a century” and added that the coronavirus outbreak has accelerated the changes.
Xi didn’t elaborate on these changes, but one assumes change for Beijing is about the decline of United States leadership and power.


Xi says 10 principles that “must be insisted on” are:
1. Insist on the party’s leadership in economic development
2. Insist on improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics
3. Insist on development and the courage to pioneer new measures
4. Insist on an all-encompassing opening-up policy, and on improving competitiveness
5. Insist on innovation as the first driver of growth
6. Insist on being people-oriented
7. Insist on the rule of law in legislative, enforcement and judicial work, and on people abiding by the law
8. Insist on environmental protection and sustainable development
9. Insist on comprehensively and accurately implementing “one country, two systems”, and on promoting integrated development between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau
10. Insist on the big picture, and on contributing to the country’s economic development   


10 points

Zhou Xin, political economy news editor:
Xi stated that China is “at a critical period” to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, a hint that Beijing is preparing to see more challenges, obstacles, resistance and friction in the coming years. But Xi said China is able to move forward thanks to its long-term growth potential, a vast domestic market and economic “resilience”.


Referring to “one country, two systems” for a second time, Xi says Shenzhen’s new missions include becoming a model city of socialist systems with Chinese characteristics, pushing forward the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area plan, as well as enriching the new implementation of “one country, two systems”. 
Is Greater Bay Area the ticket to beat Hong Kong’s land, housing woes? 
He also says the party has decided to take the opportunity of the 40th anniversary to support Shenzhen as a comprehensive testing ground for reform.
Shenzhen will have more autonomy in certain areas that are of importance and are key to reform, Xi says.
“We are launching 27 different reform policies and 40 areas that will be given such autonomy,” he says.



Renewed reform push

Mentioning the “one country, two systems” for the second time, Xi says Shenzhen’s new missions include becoming a model city of socialist systems with Chinese characteristics, pushing forward the Gungdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area plan - @tonycheung927
— Natalie Koh (@NatalieOnLoop) October 14, 2020


A model city

After mentioning Shenzhen’s new mission, Xi gives a series of tasks for the city.
The sixth task relates to the Greater Bay Area, which aims to turn Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen and eight other cities in Guangdong into a technology and finance powerhouse by 2035.
On the GBA, Xi says Shenzhen is an important engine of the project. It must seize the important and historic opportunity, foster the cross-border flow of people and goods, as well as the integration of markets, he says.
China unveils plan to turn Shenzhen into ‘core engine’ of reform
Authorities must also push forward the development of the Qianhai development zone, as well as the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop in northern Hong Kong.
“There is a need to guide Hong Kong and Macau and the foreign diaspora to the investment opportunities in the Greater bay Area, for them to contribute to development,” he says.
“There is a need to attract more Hong Kong and Macau youth to work and live on the mainland, and boost interaction and communication between youth in Hong Kong and Macau with those on the mainland so as to bring them closer to the motherland.“   


Xi’s six tasks for Shenzhen are:
1. Be firm and unswerving in implementing new thinking on development
2. Comprehensively deepen reform
3. Expand the scope of opening up
4. Use innovation to push forward modernisation of urban management and administration
5. Seriously implement a people-oriented approach to development
6. Proactively advance the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area plan


Six tasks

Xi Jinping, senior party officials and those from Hong Kong and Macau on stage sat a distance from each other but did not wear masks, while the 800 attendees in the audience sat nearly shoulder-to-shoulder and wore masks.



Wearing masks

Xi Jinping ends the 50-minute speech by saying the nation will achieve more miracles together.
During the address, he coughed several times and paused to sip water.
Xi also said that to further develop Shenzhen, there needed to be a well-rounded rewards system in government to promote and reward those who are talented, demote those who are mediocre, and expel those who are incapable.
“We need to establish a good political ecosystem with determination to fight corruption, and take down formalism and bureaucratism in institutions.”
“Corruption will be unfailingly punished and bureaucracy will be rejected. [We will] establish a healthy and correct political ecosystem.”


‘More miracles together’

Zhou Xin, SCMP political economy news editor:
Xi has sent a strong message that China will remain committed to the road of “reform and opening up” although the world is becoming less conducive to fostering growth in China.
This can be seen in Xi’s references to economic globalisation “encountering reversal flows with rising protectionism and unilateralism”.
He said: “The world economy is facing many complex challenges. We must not be intimidated by headwinds and reversal waves. We must stand on the right side of history to unswervingly expand opening up, to promote an open world economy, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.“   


Live broadcast

Among the other Hong Kong officials at the ceremony were Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Innovation and Technology Bureau chief Alfred Sit Wing-hang and director of the Chief Executive’s Office Eric Chan Kwok-ki.
During the ceremony in September 2010 marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, four business leaders spoke. They were Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu, China Merchants Holdings (International) chairman Fu Yuning and the chairman of internet giant Tencent Holdings, Pony Ma Huateng.


Now and then

The major points in Xi’s speech:

Shenzhen has been a success and the central government is doubling down on special economic zones and economic reform as the “correct policies” for China’s development
China is at a critical point in its “rejuvenation” amid the global uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. There has been a rise in protectionism and unilaterialism as well as security challenges
“One country, two systems”, Hong Kong, Macau and the Greater Bay Area underpin Beijing’s ambitions for the region to become more integrated in terms of trade, investment and the flow of people
China’s economy is transitioning from high growth to high quality, and towards the “dual-cycle model” of domestic-led growth. But engaging with the external economy will also be the key to future development
China remains on the right side of history and will continue to build a community with a shared future for humanity 

5 takeaways from Xi Jinping’s speech
