Beijing’s plans for Hong Kong’s economic expansion in Qianhai: firms welcome move but ask – will local governments do their part?

Businesses are enthusiastic over the new plan aimed at enticing Hong Kong firms into the economic zone in Shenzhen

But they are calling on officials on both sides to deliver concrete steps, such as streamlining regulations, more funding and even a quick entry permit

Reading Time:4 minutes

The Qianhai economic zone in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Photo: Getty Images

Denise Tsang,Chris LauandLaura Westbrook

Published: 8:00am, 8 Sep 2021Updated: 10:20am, 8 Sep 2021

Hong Kong’s business community has called for concrete measures to speed up cross-border collaboration and a clear timeline for implementing them if the city wants to reap the benefits of a major planned expansion of Shenzhen’s Qianhai economic zone.

A day after the unveiling of Beijing’s ambition to create a “world-class” service hub in the southern Chinese city, Hong Kong’s business chambers, investors and professional services providers said on Tuesday that while the plan looked attractive on paper, what was vital was for government-to-government arrangements to be hammered out to facilitate the flow of people and capital between the two locales.

Business groups such as the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce welcomed the plan to vastly increase the size of the Qianhai economic zone, which would give local professionals a much bigger beachhead for providing services across the border.

George Leung, chief executive officer of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. Photo: Nora Tam

But HKGCC CEO George Leung Siu-kay told the Post that businesses would not be able to make the most of the expansion on their own, saying government-level measures were needed to deal with the differences in currencies, tax regimes, values and cultures between the two jurisdictions.

“We recommended measures to enhance Hong Kong’s role as a premier financial centre in the region,” he said, calling for regulatory parameters governing cross-border financial schemes, including for wealth management, bonds and insurance, as well as funding for companies to develop the Qianhai market and the Greater Bay Area.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x