(Yicai Global) Aug. 19 -- China's southern hi-tech city of Shenzhen will be placed at the center of broad reforms to drive development of the so-called Greater Bay Area, according to the country's cabinet.

China will build Shenzhen into a pilot demonstration area for socialism with Chinese characteristics, the State Council said in a 19-point plan issued yesterday. It will serve as China's new sci-tech innovation hub, driving forward a scheme already unveiled to integrate its economy with those of Hong Kong, Macau and eight other cities in Guangdong province, according to experts.

The country will support Shenzhen in strengthening the innovative advantages from a deep integration of industry, academia and research and build a comprehensive national science center in town to let the city play a key role in building the Greater Bay Area into a global innovation center, the document noted.

China will also support the city to build major innovation platforms such as the fifth-generation wireless communications network, artificial intelligence, cyberspace science and technology, life information and biomedical laboratories. 

Shenzhen will also explore an international sci-tech information center and an academy of medical sciences with a new mechanism, enhance basic research and applied basic research, solve problems in implementing key core technologies and strengthen the foundation of industrial security.

The document identifies Shenzhen as China's new center for basic science and technological innovation, Cao Zhongxiong, executive director of the New Economic Research Institute of China Development Institute in Shenzhen, told Yicai Global. The city, which used to be known for industrial innovation, will undergo substantial changes in basic scientific research, Cao added.

Shenzhen has a solid foundation for the sci-tech industry and strong innovation ability and deserves to be the sci-tech hub of the Greater Bay Area, said Tan Jinzhao, deputy director of the South China City Research Association. This will help it play a leading role in the innovation-driven development of the Greater Bay Area and conforms to the strategy of building the area into an international center for sci-tech innovation with global influence, Tan added.

Equal Status

The document also pledges support for Shenzhen in employing a more open and convenient overseas talent introduction and entry and exit management system to allow foreigners with skills and permanent residence permits to found sci-tech firms in the city or serve as legal representatives of scientific research institutions to conform to the innovation-driven development strategy.

This will encourage the Greater Bay Area to treat its Hong Kong and Macao workforce equally with Shenzhen locals. Overseas and Hong Kong legal professionals show ever greater interest in Shenzhen and a willingness to work in the city, Lin Wei, director of the association of the Hong Kong-based P.C. Woo and Beijing-based Zhonglun W.D. law firms, recently noted. Hong Kong and Macao residents who work and live in Shenzhen will greatly benefit if they receive treatment equal to locals when buying houses, Lin said.

The document seeks to facilitate the joint development of Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou to promote integration and exchanges between the east and the west of the Pearl River Estuary and explore and improve the Shen-Shan Special Cooperation Zone via innovation to boost construction of the Greater Bay Area, as well as deepening reform and opening in the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone and enhancing the construction of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone.

The non-core cities of Dongguan, Huizhou and Shantou in the Greater Bay Area will gain more development momentum with the help of Shenzhen and achieve interconnection, according to Chen Yao, secretary general of the China Regional Economics Association. 

The document seeks to build the Greater Bay Area into a globally high-ranked estuary and China's central government's building of a Shenzhen pilot demonstration area for socialism with Chinese characteristics is also in line with the Greater Bay Area's development strategy, Chen noted.

The plan also supports Shenzhen in hosting important global diplomatic and foreign affairs activities, which shows that the area will also play an important role in this arena apart from just with the economy and sci-tech innovation, Cao said.

Editor: Ben Armour