Study On The Successful Experience And Bottleneck Problems Of Economic Cooperation Between Guangdong, Hong Kong And Macao

Regional economic cooperation is the result of growing internationalization of theworld economy, and it is the historical trend of socialization of production andeconomic internationalization, with profound realistic base and objective necessity.Since Hong Kong’s and Macao’s return to the motherland, cooperation betweenGuangdong, Hong Kong and Macao has become a shinning pearl of regional economiccooperation in China, and the principle of “One Country, Two Systems” hasdemonstrated strong vitality in the cooperation. Particularly, in spite of the seriouschallenges of the international financial crisis in recent years, economic cooperationbetween Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao has succeeded in maintaining steady yetfast growth.China introduced the12th Five-year Plan Outline in March of2011, one chapterof which is devoted to Hong Kong and Macao for the first time. The Outline has higherexpectations for the cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and setsthe target of developing metropolis cluster with more comprehensive competitivenessfrom the strategic perspective of “building shared home of the Chinese nation”. Giventhis background, we summarize the successful experience of Guangdong’s economiccooperation with Hong Kong and Macao, and in particular, we study and analyzeproblems we have encountered. These efforts are an exploration of closer cooperativerelationship between the three regions, but also hopefully can serve as a reference forother regions of China to carry out regional cooperation in the new period.This thesis consists of four parts.Part1analyzes the economy and society of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macaoand the situation of regional economic cooperation. It briefs on the economic andsocial development of the three regions and also introduces cooperative situation in key areas. It provides foundation for the subsequent analysis of cooperation experiencebetween Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.Part2is on the experience and inspiration of Guangdong’s economic cooperationwith Hong Kong and Macao. The thesis owes the success to the practice of pursuingreform and opening up, upholding principal of “One Country, Two systems”, scientificdevelopment, and taking the lead in implementing CEPA. On that basis, it summarizesthe experience that could be drawn upon by other regions in the rest of China.Part3is on the bottleneck problems in the economic cooperation betweenGuangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. This thesis analyzes from the following sixrespects: internal problems of Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR, inconsistent legalsystems of the three regions, barriers in key cooperative areas, regional barriers in theimplementation of CEPA，different interests claims, insufficiency of staff deploymentin community-level organizations of Hong Kong and Macao affairs. On the basis of theanalysis, this thesis attempts to define the problems that constrain the cooperationbetween Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.Part4puts forward suggestions on deepening the economic cooperation betweenGuangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, which include innovating systems andcooperative mode, giving play to the exemplary role of reforms in key regions andareas, advancing the policy of opening service industry to Hong Kong and Macao,improving the institutional setup of the organizations involving affairs with HongKong and Macao. Those suggestions are the ultimate purpose of this study.