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The Hong Kong government must forge greater ties with Shenzhen ahead of the 2026 Apec summit or risk missing a “perfect” opportunity to integrate the city’s financial muscle with mainland China’s tech prowess, according to an academic. Zheng Yongnian, board director of the Guangzhou Institute of the Greater Bay Area think tank, said on Monday that the Hong Kong government should strive harder to seize the opportunity presented at next year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen. The 2026 summit will be the third time a mainland city has hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, following Shanghai in 2001 and Beijing in 2014. “It’s a very good opportunity for Hong Kong’s business sector. On how to utilise it, I feel the Hong Kong government should be more proactive and strive to link up with Shenzhen,” said Zheng. In addition to his role at the think tank, Zheng is the dean of the School of Public Policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong [CUHK], Shenzhen, and director of the Institute for International Affairs, Qianhai. Zheng said he believed the two governments were likely now actively exploring what Hong Kong could offer. “I feel if they can link up, it would be beneficial for both Hong Kong and Shenzhen,” he added. Zheng was speaking on the sidelines of the Global Bay Area Economic Forum 2025 in Hong Kong, an inaugural conference on the region’s development co-organised by the think tank, which attracted 700 participants. Also speaking on the sidelines of the event, Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs said he believed that Hong Kong would serve as a global hub for finance and logistics, driving the global green and digital transformation over the next 25 years. “We know from the UN World Intellectual Property Organization report that Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou together form the number one innovation cluster in the world,” Sachs said. “This means that GBA [Greater Bay Area] will lead the world in energy decarbonisation, smart cities, AI [artificial intelligence], advanced transport, robotics and connectivity.” “Hong Kong is also finding its vocation very much as a vital part of the Greater Bay Area. It serves as finance and advanced logistics centre for the most dynamic innovation cluster in the global economy today,” Sachs added. Zheng warned that Hong Kong has been bypassed by mainland firms seeking a global launch pad, which were instead choosing rivals such as Singapore. “It is very regrettable that Hong Kong has not made itself the first stop for the wave of Chinese enterprises going global,” he said. Highlighting the example of a mainland Chinese AI company that chose Singapore instead, he asked, “Why did Hong Kong not try harder?” The team behind Chinese general-purpose AI agent Manus relocated its headquarters to Singapore earlier this year. Manus’s parent, Butterfly Effect, is based in Wuhan, and the move stoked speculation it was aimed at easier access to Nvidia chips amid US export controls to China. Shenzhen’s comparative advantage was in manufacturing and innovation while Hong Kong’s strength lay in finance, he said. “If these could be combined, it would be perfect.” Other speakers focused on specific mechanisms required to strengthen cooperation. Lawrence Lau Juen-yee, Ralph and Claire Landau professor of economics at CUHK, described the Greater Bay Area as a “mini-version of globalisation” but said this vision would only be achieved if the four factors of productivity – goods, capital, manpower and information – could flow freely. He further argued that the barrier posed by three separate currencies could be overcome through the use of central bank digital currencies. Lau’s proposal envisions a unified digital payment system where the e-HKD [Hong Kong dollar], e-MOP [pataca] and e-CNY [yuan] are interoperable. This would enable residents and visitors to make seamless digital transactions across the Greater Bay Area and eliminate the “very difficult” challenge of using and exchanging physical cash. He also suggested “blockchain technology” could be used to trace capital, allowing money to flow freely within the Greater Bay Area, without providing a channel for transferring money out of the mainland, such as from Shanghai.
