Hong Kong should export governance expertise to mainland cities: China affairs scholar

Chief Executive’s Policy Group member Zheng Yongnian says city can use globally recognised practices to buttress role in national development

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Professor Zheng Yongnian speaking via video link at another event, the Sci-Tech Innovation of GBA seminar in Hong Kong, earlier this year. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 4:00pm, 26 Aug 2024Updated: 5:08pm, 26 Aug 2024

An adviser to Chinese policymakers has called on Hong Kong to export its governance experience and internationally recognised practices to mainland cities, arguing it would consolidate the city’s role in national development while also helping the country’s modernisation.

Zheng Yongnian, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Shenzhen campus, highlighted on Monday Hong Kong’s advantages in having globally recognised rules, procedures and management standards at a forum organised by the Bauhinia Culture Holdings.

“After the implementation of the Article 23 legislation, the safety and political conditions have been met for the full alignment of mainland China’s practice with that of Hong Kong’s rules and management standards,” he said, referring to the city’s domestic national security law, which came into force in March.

Zheng, a member of the Chief Executive’s Policy Group, encouraged Hong Kong to systematically package its governance expertise and proactively integrate with mainland cities, drawing a comparison with Singapore’s successful model of exporting its governance “software” to China.

He said Hong Kong doing so would help it become a leading force in the development of the Greater Bay Area, a national blueprint that aims to combine Hong Kong with Macau and nine mainland cities into a major economic bloc.

Zheng, a China affairs scholar and also a board director of the Guangzhou Institute of the bay area, was among the experts invited in 2020 to share his views on the country’s 14th five-year plan at a seminar hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

He identified several areas where Hong Kong could contribute, including intellectual property protection, consumer industry safeguards, food safety, education, scientific research systems and healthcare.