China’s Silicon Valley rival ‘needs market reforms, not grand plans’
- ‘Greater Bay Area’ project aims to transform Hong Kong, Macau and nine other southern Chinese cities into an innovation and technology powerhouse
- But success will hinge on officials loosening the reins rather than rolling out abstract strategies, scholars say
The “Greater Bay Area” concept may be the brainchild of President Xi Jinping, but what the project really needs is less state planning and more free-market reforms, according to experts in economic and urban development.
The grand plan to turn Hong Kong, Macau and nine other cities in southern China into an innovation and technology hub to rival Silicon Valley has been much touted by officials as the region’s next phase of development.
But scholars and professionals who gathered for the two-day International Conference on Global New Cities in Nanjing this week said the concept was vague, and success would instead hinge on the courage of leaders in pressing ahead with economic liberalisation.
“What the Greater Bay Area needs is not planning but a freer market,” said Ni Pengfei, an economics professor at China’s foremost think tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). “Companies, talent and capital in free flow will bring the area a nice surprise.”
Ni is director of the CASS Centre for City and Competitiveness and a lead author of its Global Urban Competitiveness Report, jointly produced by the United Nations and released in Nanjing on Monday.