Briefs | Li endorses city ‘cluster’ plan

China’s premier Li Keqiang, speaking at the opening of the annual session of the National People’s Congress, has endorsed a plan to turn the area around the Pearl River estuary into a “cluster” of cities and promised a strategic plan for the development to be unveiled in the future. “We will promote closer cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau,” said Li, as cited by public broadcaster TDM. “We will draw up a plan for the development of a city cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Great Bay Area, give full play to the distinctive strengths of Hong Kong and Macau and elevate their positions and roles in China’s economic development and opening up.” Li also warned in his inauguration speech that Hong Kong’s independence movement “will lead nowhere” and stressed the importance of the “One Country, Two Systems” policy [more on page 10-11].

Macau delegate urges for opening of Wanzai port

Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Macau delegate Yeung Tsun Man proposed to the government the renovation of Wanzai port and the alternative of finding a place to build a new port or a ferry terminal. Yeung’s suggestions were revealed during his participation in the annual CPPCC meeting in Beijing last Friday. Yeung added that the Wanzai port recorded a daily average of 2,038 passages last year. The low number is not due to the tourists’ unwillingness to use the port, but due to the restrictions on the ferries and the terminal’s operating hours.  He therefore hopes the port can be open for use from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. every day.

Li Zezhong to be Zhuhai’s new mayor

The Guangdong Provincial Party Committee Organization Department recently published a statement on its website stating that Zhuhai’s current mayor, Zheng Renhao, will move to Zhanjiang city to be the Communist Party Secretary. The department has nominated Li Zezhong to be Zhuhai’s new mayor. The 47-year-old Li is from Lujiang in Anhui province, and is the chairman of the board of Guangdong Rising Assets Management Co., Ltd., a position which he has occupied since April 2016. Before being promoted to chairman, Li was a member of the company’s senior management. Meanwhile, 49-year-old Zheng Renhao hails from Shantou in Guangdong province, and was the mayor of Shantou before being appointed as Zhuhai’s mayor last May.