Mainland China’s top official on Macao affairs, Xia Baolong, visited Hengqin as part of a two-day inspection trip last Friday and Saturday, in a move that experts say underscores the central government’s determination to economically integrate the mainland island with Macao.
According to a government statement, Xia, the director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, toured multiple sites relating to industries such as traditional Chinese medicine and e-commerce, in order to learn more about the island’s development.
On Saturday morning, the senior official held a meeting with Macao’s secretary for economy and finance, Tai Kin Ip, who outlined the SAR government’s economic plans for 2025.
Discussions on speeding up Macao’s economic diversification, promoting Hengqin’s development and facilitating better integration within the Greater Bay Area also took place.
Xia’s two-day visit comes shortly after one made by the Chinese President last December, and appears to indicate that the central government is doubling down on the growth of the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone (as Hengqin is formally known), according to some experts.
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“Xia’s visit was to make sure that his [Xi’s] directives were executed and to nudge Macao to accelerate the development of Hengqin by Macao and Guangdong,” Liu Siu-kai of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
Ieong Meng U, a University of Macau assistant professor specialising in politics, expressed similar sentiments, telling the Post that Xia’s presence “shows the central government takes the development of the cooperation zone seriously or else there would not be three inspections within the past year.”
In the wake of Xia’s visit, representatives from Macao’s different sectors have expressed hopes of further integrating the SAR with Hengqin. Legislator Cheung Kin Chung told local media that the two territories possess “great potential” as a joint “golden tourism channel,” adding that together they can facilitate the passage of even more overseas visitors.
Meanwhile, the director of the Macau Digital Industries Research Institute, Fu Tung Long, said that Xia’s trip was intended to convey the message to Macao that Hengqin offers a chance for the city to overcome its talent shortage, and logistical and space restrictions.
Legislator Si Ka Lon also called for concrete measures from the government such as integrating Hengqin’s data into Macao’s report on the city’s economic diversification, which he believes will provide an important foundation for the integration of the two cities’ industries.
