Many China watchers are surprised with how recklessly the Chinese Communist Party has moved to unilaterally alter the status quo in Hong Kong as it has destroyed the city’s autonomy. The timing of such a move has perplexed many experts as on the back of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, China was already under severe international pressure which has only increased after the introduction of the controversial national security law. One of the main reasons why China decided to curtail Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous status is the Pearl River Delta – a megacity and the wealthiest region in South China.
South China is one of the most wealthiest and densely populated parts of China and the Pearl River Delta will only increase the region’s dominance. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) is envisioned to be a metropolis and connect the 11 cities into a single mega metropolitan area. Needless to say, the cities which are a part of the PRD are one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.
Now renamed as the “Greater Bay Area” (GBA), the CCP hopes that the area will emerge as a rival to urban areas such as New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo.
The GBA is one the verge of completion and aims to integrate Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The three cities have a combined population of 71 million and GDP of a whopping $1.5 trillion.
The likes of New York, San Francisco and Tokyo present a pale figure as compared to the Chinese “big three”. Tokyo with a population of 40 million has a GDP of $1.9 trillion, New York with a population of 20 million has a GDP of $1.6 trillion and San Francisco with a population of 7 million has a GDP of $800 billion.
According to the World Bank Group, the area has become the largest urban area in the world in both size and population.
Apart from Hong Kong and Macau, the area also connects nine other cities like Guangzhou which has emerged as the political capital of the region and Shenzhen which is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and a Special Economic Zone.
The missing piece in China’s dream project is Hong Kong. Out of the 11 cities, only Macau and Hong Kong are two special administrative regions with some autonomy that can emerge as a thorn in China’s plans.
Macau has willingly submitted itself to the throngs of the CCP as almost half of Macau’s present-day residents are immigrants from the mainland, hence the pro-China tilt and an absence of any dissent whatsoever.
However, Hong Kong is starkly different from China and previous attempts of integrating the city with the mainland have met with vociferous protests.
Since the last 10 years, various infrastructure projects have been completed in the cluster as the CCP aims to make Hong Kong and Macau into a seamless zone. Macau was never a problem, but Hong Kong was a constant thorn. The rapid steps taken to strip Hong Kong from its autonomy can be due to the Greater Bay Area.
The salient feature of the ambitious project is the fact that it focuses on the core competencies of each city i.e Hong Kong for finance, Macau for entertainment and Guangzhou for shipping.
The project is also being used as a tool to plunge Hong Kong into oblivion and systematically reduce its financial muscle. A couple of years before Hong Kong was handed over to China, Hong Kong’s economic output was equal to 25% of China’s entire GDP. Fast forward to 2018, the city’s GDP represents a mere 3% of China’s.
After the introduction of the national security law, many countries are revoking the concessions granted to Hong Kong which will further deplete the financial muscle of the city.
The project aims to fully integrate Hong Kong with the mainland as the Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macau bridge upon completion will be one of the longest bridges in the world as the 50 kilometre bridge will have tunnels and three man-made islands.
The Hong Kongers would never allow such a bridge as they fiercely protected their autonomous status. Hence, the move by the CCP to introduce the national security law which all but ends the region’s semi-autonomous status which China promised to keep until 2047. The move has also resulted in tremendous international backlash as China has broken international treaties by attempting to change the status-quo in Hong Kong.
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In the post-pandemic world, China desperately needs the Greater Bay Area to function at the earliest as the project remains crucial to China’s hopes of reinvigorating its economy and exert regional dominance.