Macau expected to surpass HK in bridging China with the world

“Hengqin has leapt forward over recent years with a double- to triple-digit industrial growth”, Hengqin NAAC

With the neighboring free trade zones (FTZ) in Guangdong coming into shape, scholars urge Macau to dive into regional integration rather than being a passive spectator.
Under the nation’s overall planning, the MSAR can play a better bridging role than Hong Kong between China and the world, and even could replace it in some areas, said the director of the Center for City and Competitiveness at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Ni Pengfei.
Ni said that the country is encouraging these free trade zones in order to boldly explore the paths they can develop. He thus suggests that stakeholders aim should to build a free port in the region.
“We should be bolder with a bigger vision and longer-term perspective in the FTZ planning, and not be limited to only industrial development. I predict that these new FTZs will become new free ports in the future, as the then newly-
established industrial zones have now become new towns,” he said at a symposium organized by the University of Macau (UM) yesterday.
The scholar thereby suggested that Macau should aim to build a free port with the help of its neighbor Hengqin, given that there have been higher expectations laid upon Macau since the Chinese authorities’ re-positioning of its development.
“HK hasn’t played a big enough platform role in linking China to the world. With new social and political problems occurring in Hong Kong, Macau now can do what HK couldn’t and even replace HK in some functions,” he said.
A group of ten scholars from the region’s research and education institutions also joined the round-table symposium, where they exchanged opinions on how Macau can seize the opportunities in the emerging Guangdong FTZs.
“Hengqin has leapt forward over recent years with a double- to triple-digit growth in industrial indexes. (…) There are already 8,619 companies registered in our Hengqin FTZ prior to its official inauguration, and companies from Macau and HK accounted for 424 and 151 respectively,” said the Hengqin New Area Administrative Committee’s deputy director, Ye Zhen.
Mr Ye introduced the Hengqin FTZ to scholars – an area of 28 square kilometers – also promoting the attention given to the ecological environment in adopting low-carbon, energy-saving facilities.
“What Hengqin has is precisely the conditions that Macau needs to develop its leisure and tourism brand. With only its own conditions, Macau would find it very hard to develop leisure,” said the Macau Polytechnic Institute professor, Yang Daokuang. “Judging by the Hengqin FTZ’s distinctive positioning, the tourism and leisure industry should be the first area of priority for the regions to join forces building in,” he added.
The opinion was echoed by Ni Pengfei, who indicated that the Central Government’s re-positioning of its plans for Macau has pushed the city to aim higher – to become a tourism and leisure center not only of Asia, but also the world.
“We were surprised by the goal, as we questioned how such a small city could develop into a world leisure hub. In order to achieve that, Macau needs to collaborate with the neighboring region more than ever, and to jointly build a leisure brand,” he suggested.