從8月23日至25日訪港的中央「十四五」規劃宣講團成員的發言，以及兩位港澳前行政長官梁振英及何厚鏵率領全國政協港澳台僑界別委員視察團8月24日抵達廣州，都標誌着粵港澳區域融合的新維度已經出現。
首先，內地訪港官員的組合不僅包括科技官員，還有主管銀行和金融事務的官員，顯示了區域融合的重點。代表團由港澳辦副主任黃柳權、中國人民銀行金融研究所所長周誠君率領，其他官員包括國家發改委發展戰略和規劃司副司長胡朝暉、科技部研究成果轉化與區域創新司副司長黃聖彪。
黃柳權：「中國夢」也包括「香港夢」
黃柳權8月23日的講話，具有重要的政治意義。
他表示，今年5月，香港行政長官林鄭月娥給國務院港澳辦主任夏寶龍寫信，請求中央派人來港給特區政府和社會各界講解中央「十四五」規劃，中央因此委派多人來港。他補充說，「十四五」規劃充分體現中共為人民謀幸福，為中華民族謀復興的初心使命，全面貫徹中央以人民為中心的發展理念。
《十四五規劃綱要》有提高居民收入、實現充分就業的任務，也有健全社會保障、優化教育醫療的舉措；有豐富精神文化生活的安排，也有促進人與自然和諧共生的要求；有推動全體人民共同富裕的路徑，也有加強民主法治建設，彰顯社會公平正義的目標。
黃柳權強調香港是國家不可分割的一部分，「中國夢」也包括「香港夢」。因此，「十四五」規劃設立專章，從金融、航運、教育、航空等等領域，支持香港鞏固提升競爭優勢，融入國家發展大局。最重要的是，以粵港澳大灣區，尤其是前海、橫琴的平台建設為重點，推出更多「利港利民」的政策。
如果關鍵詞對我們了解中央政府對港澳的政策是重要的，黃柳權呼籲港人在「政策」、「產業」、「市場」、「理念」和「思路」等方面「對接」國家「十四五」規劃，理由是特區政府官員「肩負管治好特區、發展好特區的重要職責」，在推動香港經濟持續發展、社會持續進步，滿足市民對生活期待方面「責任重大」。
寧吉喆：香港可成國內國際雙循環「促進者」
8月23日，國家發改委副主任寧吉喆公開闡述了香港融入國家發展大局的背景，他表示，內地「雙循環」戰略仍是主流方向。 因此，他期望香港「擁抱國家『十四五』規劃，發揮更大作用」。
此外，寧吉喆相信，香港通過不斷挖掘新的優勢，將在金融服務、數字轉型、國際貿易創新、科技和綠色發展等領域獲得更多機遇，實現更大發展。他期待香港以更加積極的姿態擁抱國家「十四五」規劃，成為國內大循環的「參與者」和國內國際雙循環的「促進者」，抓住更多機遇、發揮更大作用，開創發展新局面。
值得注意的是，寧吉喆指出，香港不僅是「內地參與國際貿易的重要夥伴」，是「走出去」的重要橋樑，也是「重要外商投資來源地和重要海外融資管道，有效搭建了內地與世界交流的紐帶」。
北京對香港的經濟政策似乎是以務實為主。 這種務實主義或許可以解釋為什麼在8月17日習近平主席主持的中央財經委員會會議3天後，宣布暫緩將《反外國制裁法》納入香港《基本法》附件三。 顯然，從中央的角度看，香港特別行政區仍然是一個重要的國際金融中心。
港金融產品人民幣結算？ 周誠君：樂觀其成
出席宣講會的香港金融管理局前總裁任志剛表示，要加快人民幣國際化進程，恆生指數50隻成份股可以人民幣報價、交易和結算。任志剛的建議很重要，因為人民幣國際化需要充分發揮香港作為離岸人民幣樞紐的作用和功能。
不出所料，中國人民銀行金融研究所所長周誠君表示，如果香港的任何經濟活動，包括股票、債券、其他金融資產，想用人民幣結算的話，「作為中國央行來說，我們樂見其成」。
他又說，香港是最大的人民幣離岸樞紐，佔全球離岸人民幣存款的60%和離岸人民幣債券的80%。如果是這樣，中央就有充分發揮香港特別行政區貨幣職能的空間。如果澳門要建立新的證券中心，可以預見其關鍵目標之一，就是促進人民幣國際化進程。
梁振英何厚鏵 率港澳政協赴粵視察
中央宣講團訪港期間，梁振英和何厚鏵以全國政協副主席身份，率領全國政協港澳台僑界別委員視察團到廣東，圍繞「粵港澳大灣區發展規劃綱要落實情況及建議──共建粵港澳合作發展平台」展開視察活動。
視察團圍繞粵港澳合作發展平台建設規則銜接、科技創新、產業發展、民生融合、青年創業等深入交流研討、提出意見建議。梁振英建議港澳委員應發揮四方面影響力，大力推動粵港澳三地政策聯通、設施暢通、民心相通，為大灣區建設凝聚強大合力。
何厚鏵則指出，要把共建合作發展平台作為深化粵港澳合作的重要載體，持續推動大灣區建設不斷取得新的重大進展。
在港註冊藥品 大灣區指定醫院使用
8月27日，廣東省藥監局和廣東省衛健委宣布「港澳藥械通」政策，容許在大灣區的指定醫療機構，使用已在香港註冊的藥物和屬臨床急需、公立醫院已採購使用及具有臨床應用先進性的醫療儀器，政策試點工作已在香港大學深圳醫院完成，未來將正式拓展至粵港澳大灣區內地9市實施。
總括而言，中央宣講團訪港、港澳政協委員到大灣區視察、粵港醫療產品專業互認等三件大事，都標誌着粵港澳三地的社會經濟、科技和醫療進一步拉近；區域融合的新維度不斷湧現和優先發展；加強科技創新合作，加快人民幣在香港股市的應用，促進醫療產品互認，為港澳青年提供更多在大灣區的就業機會。
這些重點領域進一步發展後，粵港澳區域融合將更緊密。包括香港和澳門在內的華南地區區域融合加速，或許預告一個新時代的出現：香港和前海、澳門和橫琴早晚實現跨境融合的可能性。
New dimensions of regional integration between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau
Judging from the remarks of the members of the Hong Kong Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) delegation that visited Hong Kong from August 23 to 25, and from the inspection trip including the former Chief Executives of Macau and Hong Kong (Edmund Ho and C. Y. Leung) to Guangzhou on August 24, new dimensions of regional integration between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau have already emerged.
First and foremost, the portfolios of the mainland officials visiting the HKSAR covered not only science and technology, but also banking and monetary affairs, illustrating the specific foci of regional integration. The delegation was led by Huang Liuquan, Deputy Director of the HKMAO, together with Zhou Chengjun, the Director of the Finance Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China. Other officials included Hu Zhaohui, the Deputy Director of the Department of Development Planning of the National Development and Reform Commission, and Huang Shengbiao, the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Research Commercialization and Regional Innovation of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The speech delivered by Huang Liuquan on August 23 was politically significant. He revealed that, in response to the request of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to HKMAO Director Xia Baolong in May for a delegation to explain the 14thfive-year plan to the people of Hong Kong, the delegation’s visit was eventually made. Huang added that the 14th five-year plan realizes the vision and mission of the Communist Party f China and implements the idea of using “people as the center” in Beijing’s developmental plan, which embraces the path of increasing the living standard of citizens, bringing about employment, building up social welfare protection, taking measures to achieve health and medical excellence, enriching the people’s “spiritual and cultural life,” and achieving the objective of “common prosperity of all people.”
Huang emphasized the dimensions of integration in the 14thfive-year plan, including monetary and financial affairs, shipping, trade, aviation, innovation and technology, legal services, intellectual property rights, and culture and arts. Most significantly, Qianhai and Hengqin are the “collaborative platforms” of such integrative areas between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.
If key phrases are important for us to understand the central government’s policies toward Hong Kong and Macau, Huang’s appeals to the people of Hong Kong to “converge” in the realms of “policy,” “sectors,” “markets,” “thinking” and “path” are economically and politically significant, because the mentality of the ruling elites in the HKSAR are expected to accelerate the process and deepen the dimensions of regional, socio-economic, technological and monetary integration between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region(HKSAR), Guangdong and the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
The context of regional integration was outlined publicly by the Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, Ning Jizhe, who said on August 23 that China’s policy of “dual circulation” remains the mainstream direction. As such, the HKSAR must grasp Beijing’s policy trend. Furthermore, the HKSAR, according to Ning, must make adaptational efforts at monetary services, digital transformation, international trade, innovation and technology, and green development. He finally added that both Hong Kong and Macau must integrate into the 14thfive-year developmental plan, participating in the Belt and Road initiative and contributing to the motherland’s “dual circulation” process.
It is noteworthy that Ning pointed to the continuous role of Hong Kong as not only “a partner for the mainland participation in international trade” but also “an important channel for overseas investors and capital accumulation.” It looks as if pragmatism prevails in Beijing’s economic policy toward the HKSAR. This pragmatism perhaps explains why, shortly three days after the meeting of the Leading Group on Financial and Monetary Affairs chaired by President Xi Jinping on August 17, it was announced that the Anti-Sanctions Law for Hong Kong was temporarily postponed for further studies of the possibilities of incorporating it into Annex III of the Hong Kong Basic Law. Clearly, the HKSAR remains a crucial international financial center from the perspective of the central authorities.
Luo Huining, the Director of the Liaison Office, appealed to the need for the HKSAR to grasp the 2035 vision of the central government, fostering its economic development and improving the people’s livelihood. Given Luo’s frequent emphasis on the need for Hong Kong to improve the people’s livelihood, it can be expected that the new Legislative Council after its election by the end of 2021 will likely focus on the agenda of accelerating the supply of land and public housing units.
An important speech was delivered by Chief Executive Carrie Lam on August 23, when she mentioned Hong Kong’s multiple roles in the 14thfive-year plan. Hong Kong is expected to elevate its status as an international monetary, shipping, trade, and offshore Renminbi centers. Furthermore, the high value-added service sector will be a target of Hong Kong’s development, while the innovation and technology hub will have to be established together with a cultural and arts exchange center. Apart from the need for Hong Kong to enhance cross-border traffic, trade and logistics, youth exchanges and mutual professional recognition will have to be accelerated. Clearly, the HKSAR government under Lam’s leadership understands the urgency and necessity of regional integration, contributing to the 14thfive-year plan and grasping the chances provided by the “dual circulation” processes.
In the area of monetary integration, the former chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Joseph Yam, said that, for the internationalization of Renminbi to be accelerated, Renminbi should be used for quotation, trading and clearing of stocks covered by the Heng Seng Index. Yam’s suggestion is important because the internationalization of Renminbi needs to fully utilize the role and functions of Hong Kong as an offshore exchange and circulation center. Not surprisingly, Zhou Chengkun from the People’s Bank of China remarked in his speech on August 23 that cross-border securities would be accelerated, while the Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect would allow capital inside and outside China to circulate actively between the HKSAR and the mainland. Zhou added that Hong Kong remains the largest offshore center for Renminbi, occupying 60 percent of the global offshore Renminbi deposits and 80 percent of the offshore Renminbi bonds. If so, there are rooms for the central authorities to fully utilize the monetary functions of the HKSAR. If Macau is going to build up its new securities center, it can be anticipated that one of its crucial objectives will be the facilitation in the process of internationalizing Renminbi.
When the mainland delegation visited the HKSAR, an important delegation led by Zhu Xiaodan, the Director of the Hong Kong-Macau-Taiwan Committee under the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) visited Guangzhou city and began a four-day inspection of the implementation of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau-Greater Bay Area developmental blueprint. The two former chief executives of Hong Kong and Macau, C.Y. Leung and Edmund Ho respectively, joined the delegation.
The committee decided that every year from 2021 to 2025 it is going to hold an annual forum to conduct “democratic supervision” activities, overseeing the implementation of the blueprint. Three platforms were regarded as the priorities of “convergence,” namely the serving sectoral cooperation between Shenzhen’s Qianhai and the HKSAR, the demonstration region of collaboration between Guangzhou’s Nansha and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau, and the regional construction between Zhuhai’s Hengqin and Guangdong-Macau. Several areas of cooperation are emphasized: technology innovation, investment and trade, talent development and the employment for the youth from Hong Kong and Macau. The inspection team included businesspeople from Hong Kong and Macau, interacting with the technology expert and chief executive officers of high-tech institutes in Shenzhen, and meeting experts of the Chinese medicine technology park in Hengqin. Edmund Ho added that Hengqin can help Macau to diversify its economy, while C.Y. Leung appealed to the governments of Hong Kong and the mainland to do more to propel the young people to work in South China. Leung added that Hong Kong’s universities which have research projects in the Greater Bay Area have tremendous potential to contribute to national development through their scientific products.
On August 27, the Guangdong Pharmaceutical and Supervision Bureau and Guangdong Health Department announced that medical products from the HKSAR can be tested and approved for usage in five mainland-based hospitals, including the Shenzhen Hospital under the management of the University of Hong Kong. This announcement was a breakthrough in the medical collaboration between the HKSAR and the Guangdong province, implying that more Hong Kong medical products will likely be tested, recognized and approved for usage in the mainland. In the past, the testing and approval of the Hong Kong medical products were centralized by the National Pharmaceutical and Supervisory Bureau; the testing assessment period lasted for 200 days, and the approval period could be up to 235 days. Now, with easier cooperation between the two sides at the regional level, the assessment period lasted for only 80 days and approval period 115 days. Clearly, the streamlined processes of assessment, recognition and approval facilitates cross-border medical testing and usage. Many Hong Kong residents living in the nine cities of the Greater Bay Area can and will benefit from the new scheme, reducing their need to return to the HKSAR to buy and acquire their medicine. At the same time, the medical standard in the Greater Bay Area can and will be enhanced through easier mainland testing, approval, accreditation and usage.
Overall, the three important recent events – the delegation from the HKMAO, the inspection of Hong Kong and Macau CPPCC members to the Greater Bay Area, and the mutual professional recognition of medical products between Hong Kong and Guangdong – are signaling the closer socio-economic, technological and medical integration between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. New dimensions of regional integration are emerging and prioritized: closer cooperation in technology and innovation, the accelerated usage of Renminbi in Hong Kong’s stock market, the mutual recognition of medical products, and the provision of more jobs and opportunities for Hong Kong and Macau youth in the Greater Bay Area. After these priority areas are propelled further, closer regional integration between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau will be witnessed. Accelerated regional integration in South China comprising Hong Kong and Macau is perhaps entering a new era, leading to the likelihood of an eventual territorial integration between Macau and Hengqin on the one hand and Hong Kong and Qianhai sooner or later.
原刊於澳門新聞通訊社（MNA）網站，本社獲作者授權轉載。
