China’s Guangdong province will team up with Hong Kong and Macau this year on building joint laboratories to study cutting-edge technologies needed by local industries, according to an annual government report delivered by the provincial governor on Monday. Ma Xingrui, Guangdong’s No 1 official, said the province had chosen the development of the “Greater Bay Area” – a plan to create an international innovation and technology hub in partnership with Hong Kong and Macau – as its top priority for 2019. Beijing approves blueprint for ‘Greater Bay Area’ to rival Silicon Valley Key measures will include the joint labs as well as greater transport connectivity by promoting so-called co-location – a controversial arrangement by which immigration and customs checks between Guangdong and Hong Kong have been located away from their border to allow smoother processing. A rail station in Hong Kong employing the arrangement previously drew heavy criticism over concerns it infringed upon local laws, but Ma did not specify whether he intended to push for new transport terminals using the set-up or only promote existing ones. Why most local youths have no interest in working across border “Arrangements for co-location immigration and customs checks, one-off checks through the collaboration of authorities from both sides, as well as one-stop checking services, will be implemented on a wider scale,” he said. Speaking in Guangzhou at an annual meeting of the provincial people’s congress, Guangdong’s top lawmaking body, Ma said the bay area project would form the crux of the province’s economic development. He said it was an “opportunity of historic significance” in the face of slowing growth for the region amid domestic complexities and external shocks. ‘Beijing legislators have binding power over Hong Kong laws’ In total the governor laid out 10 priorities for the year. “We will jointly develop a technology and innovation corridor connecting Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau, and build a batch of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau joint labs to study technologies that are cutting edge and commonly needed for industries,” Ma said. “We will open and share with Hong Kong and Macau more laboratory facilities, large scientific research devices and research data.” Construction of the Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai boundary checkpoint between Hong Kong and Shenzhen would be completed, he said, and the development of a new border port linking Zhuhai and Macau would be expedited. Co-location ruling gives needed clarity to important legal issues He did not say whether those checkpoints would use co-location. However, Wong Yuk-shan, a Hong Kong deputy to the national legislature, said Ma was not talking of more such checkpoints for the city. “Co-location of checkpoints is needed in foreign countries, and between Hong Kong and the mainland when there’s an actual need. But I cannot see the need for other applications in the city now,” Wong said. Herman Hu Shao-ming, another local deputy to the National People’s Congress, said he believed both Hong Kong and Guangdong would benefit from more integration and cooperation. “Beijing has repeatedly made clear that innovation and technology will be the direction of Greater Bay Area development,” he said. The former chairman of City University’s governing council said this would involve more cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong universities and other tertiary education institutions. Hu also said Ma’s push to boost transport infrastructure and connectivity would improve the flow of goods and capital. Additional reporting by Tony Cheung