Should the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) operate as a common market, like the European Union? Yes, according to a Guangdong-based think tank.
It would involve aligning rules and standards to facilitate increasing flows of people and goods throughout the region, as well as a significant reduction in institutional barriers, the Guangzhou Institute of the Greater Bay Area (GIG) said.
GIG’s proposal, reported in the South China Morning Post, includes regional long-term residence visas and a personal mobility system based on Europe’s Schengen Zone.
[See more: Construction of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan link is nearing completion]
GIG’s deputy dean, He Dongni, said integration within the GBA was the key to creating a resilient, unified domestic market and that the proposal – dubbed the Bay Area Technology Immigration Programme – aimed for seamless connectivity between Macao, Hong Kong and Guangzhou in the next two years.
There are administrative barriers to overcome, such as the different legal systems and currencies operating in Macao, Hong Kong and the mainland.
The director of City University of Hong Kong’s Center for Chinese and Comparative Law, Wang Jiangyu, said that any deeper integration – no matter how economically beneficial – needed consensus and would not work if key stakeholders felt it was “being imposed” on them.
