La Jornada: Zhuhai, paradigm of the Chinese model of openness and development

Zhuhai. At 339 meters high it seems easier to size the place you are in. In front, a couple of islands occupied by dozens of buildings and a waisted tower that from a distance seems smaller than it really is; Further on, a long concrete road that winds over the sea, and around it all, water, arms of estuaries in the middle of which stands one of the main economic engines of China.

Zhuhai, one of China’s four original special economic zones (SEZs), is now the main enclave between Macau and Hong Kong, the special administrative regions (SARs) that make up the “one country, two systems” principle. This city has lagged a little behind the prominence that Shenzhen has had, the neighbor at the other end of the Great Bay, which has become the most visible face of Chinese technological development, in addition to the fact that in November it will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC).

However, beyond being a geopolitical cog, Zhuhai is still a paradigmatic case of the opening model that China established 45 years ago through the EEZs. The gross domestic product (GDP) of this coastal city, also at the mouth of the Pearl River, rose from 261 million yuan in 1980 to 457.31 billion last year, according to an official report presented in February.

This implies that, since it was designated SEZ, Zhuhai’s economy grew at a compound annual rate of 17.64 percent on average, without discounting inflation, which also changed the face of a territory that until half a century ago was a fishing village to be currently an enclave of imposing skyscrapers, with a port that has dozens of direct routes for both passenger and cargo services.

Zhuhai does not have a nickname that compares it to something American, like “the Chinese Silicon Valley” of the first, but its reference is more universal: it is “the Romantic City.” The name qualifies the operation of industries such as integrated circuits, biomedicine, renewable energy and household appliances, with the Geer company as one of its main exponents.

The particularity of Zhuhai is that it has become the transit enclave with Macao through one of its islands: Hengqin, where the Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone is located, a platform to facilitate cross-border trade and the movement of people to articulate regional integration.

From the top of the Hengqin International Financial Center you can begin to see the surroundings. The waisted building in front is the Macau Tower, and although it looks small from perspective, it measures 339 meters high. On the other island, behind a mountain is Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, the largest aquarium in the world; Further to the right will be the first homes built in mainland China for residents of Macau; There, a translator details, you can watch international and government television channels, “use international Internet” and “bring in foreign maids.”

Also from that 339-meter tower you can see the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park (GMTCM Park), an industrial complex that includes the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products and which constitutes one of the main cooperation projects between Guangdong and Macao, a territory occupied by Portugal for more than 400 years, returned to China in 1999 and which will go through a transition over 50 years before fully incorporating into the Chinese economic and political model.

For now, Macau is an economic magnet on its own terms. It is a territory of casinos, the largest in the world, which drives an economy with a strong dependence on tourism and services, which at the same time has one of the highest GDP per capita globally.

In this gear of the integration platform with the former territories occupied by European countries, China also deployed the construction of the largest sea bridge in the world over a decade. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge began construction on December 15, 2009 and was completed on February 6, 2018.

Now, the 55-kilometer engineering work is not only presented as one of the prides of this country; It is also a route that allows travel in 20 minutes from Zhuhai to Hong Kong and Macao and has become an axis for the transportation of the freshest products: lobsters from Canada, blackberries from Chile, crabs from Norway and clams from Mexico.

However, the greatest attribute of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge is that it closes the triangle in the entire Great Bay, an area where China’s economy outlined more than 40 years ago, what is now its main epicenter of innovation.