The State Council released a 26-point paper that covers Hong Kong, Macau, and Nansha, outlining how inhabitants can benefit from enhanced collaboration in areas such as healthcare, financial services, employment, education, and social welfare.
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Beijing expects that a combination of incentives will persuade young Hongkongers to work, study, and start new firms in Nansha, Guangzhou, expanding on preferential policies aimed at connecting the district with the Asian financial hub under the Greater Bay Area banner.
The proposal comes two weeks after Chinese Premier Keqiang Li told incoming Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu that the central government would fully support the city’s integration into national development goals and economic growth.
Beijing has designated Nansha, along with Qianhai in Shenzhen and Hengqin in Zhuhai, as strategic development zones under the Greater Bay Area initiative. It intends to transform Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and six other Guangdong cities into a financial and technology hub by 2035.
In three years, the area will have more public services, including education and healthcare, as well as youth entrepreneurship and employment prospects, allowing young people from Hong Kong and Macau to call it their “new home.”
The blueprint includes steps aimed at attracting young talent from Hong Kong and Macau, with the goal of “substantially boosting” the number of Hong Kong and Macau residents in the area by 2035. These included medical insurance, tax breaks, and educational assistance for their children.
The assistance measures in Nansha would immediately benefit young entrepreneurial teams that obtained subsidies from Hong Kong and Macau, while initiatives would also be developed to assist citizens, particularly those who graduated from mainland Chinese colleges, to work and settle in the zone.
It promised to encourage Hong Kong and Macau business groups to open representative offices in Nansha, as well as allow suitable investors from the two cities to apply for the formation of licenced financial institutions such as securities, futures, and fund firms.
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Nansha’s district administration will be permitted up to CNY 10 billion (USD1.48 billion) in additional local government debt per year from 2022 to 2024 to promote its development, while the Guangdong and Guangzhou governments must also modify Nansha’s yearly land usage limits.