The recently concluded third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China laid out reform objectives to be completed by 2029, the 80th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. In order to achieve these goals, the resolution adopted at the plenum said China must better utilize market mechanisms and double down on efforts to promote high-quality development, which includes prioritizing investments in advanced technologies and facilitating growth through technological and scientific innovation.

Education, science and technology, and talent function as a basic and strategic underpinning for Chinese modernization. We must fully implement the strategy of invigorating China through science and education, the strategy of developing a quality workforce, and the innovation-driven development strategy, make coordinated efforts to promote integrated reform of institutions and mechanisms pertaining to education, science and technology, and talent, and improve the new system for mobilizing resources nationwide so as to boost the overall performance of our country’s innovation system, the resolution said.

While China’s economic growth slowed to 4.7 percent in the second quarter of this year (however, overall growth for the first half of the year stood at 5 percent, in line with the country’s GDP target for 2024) and challenges remain in China’s property sector as investment in the sector dropped 10.1 percent in the first six months of this year compared to 2023, the country is in a better situation than the global economy and has the means to overcome the current issues and emerge stronger.

Hong Kong, as a special administrative region of China, can play a key role in Chinese modernization, given its unique position.

Even if Hong Kong’s role as the gateway to China may have diminished as the Chinese mainland continues to open up its economy and financial system, making it progressively easier for foreign investors to make direct contact without going through a middleman, it remains one of the world’s most important financial centers and excels in areas such as greentech, artificial intelligence, fintech and Web3, and at the same time the city is part of the very promising Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Hong Kong must not only rely on its prowess in the services sector (mostly financial services) but embrace any other opportunities to make its economy more dynamic, such as its integration into the GBA, its role as a fintech hub, and a green finance and environmental, social and governance (ESG) hub.

In the past 27 years, Hong Kong has gone through the Asian financial crisis, SARS, the global financial tsunami and the COVID-19 pandemic without any evident significant outflow of capital and without surrendering its role as one of the world’s most important financial centers, despite bumps in the road. This was because of Hong Kong’s strength, because of its resilient nature.

And, while Hong Kong’s role may have changed over the past 27 years, it remains very important for the mainland.

Focusing on the GBA, now that we are reading so much in the media about China’s economic slowdown, about Hong Kong being far from its best days, or even “over”, it seems timely to remind readers about the GBA’s enormous potential.

When, in 1992, Deng Xiaoping embarked on his famous “Southern Tour” of China, visiting Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shanghai, he permanently changed China’s direction toward free market economic development, pointing out how this area would be a game changer in future. The Southern Tour was considered Deng’s final large political act of his career.

The GBA has been called “China’s Silicon Valley” by some media, and not without reason. I could add countless data to support this affirmation, but it would be pointless for the purpose of this article. Suffice to say that the GBA has the potential to bring more economic growth, new jobs and therefore prosperity to the region.

As per the 11 chapters of this project, each of the cities will play an important role based on its respective strengths. For example, Hong Kong will play a key part as a financial center, while Shenzhen will leverage its technological prowess, where cutting-edge technology companies Huawei and Tencent are domiciled.

Certainly, Hong Kong is embracing opportunities from the GBA development, and, by playing an active part in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), the HKSAR is unleashing its potential thanks to unreserved support from the central authorities for advancing key strategies to upgrade its superconnector role, including the digital yuan or digital renminbi and ESG.

In addition to the huge role that the GBA will play in Hong Kong’s future, we can mention other opportunities such as fintech development in Hong Kong, the HKSAR’s anticipated entry into the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the Connect programs.

Fintech-wise, Hong Kong and the rest of the GBA are increasing their role as fintech hubs. The Fintech 2025 blueprint aims at pivoting the HKSAR toward a friendlier regulatory regime for digital assets, proving that the city is positioning itself to become a virtual assets center/crypto hub. Hong Kong has also stepped-up efforts to develop itself into one of the world’s most important Web3 hubs.

The city is also an innovation hub, as was demonstrated by the Global Innovation Index 2023, published in September by the World Intellectual Property Organization, which ranked the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou science and technology cluster second globally for the fourth consecutive years; Hong Kong’s ranking remained fifth in Asia and 17th globally among 132 economies.

Moreover, Hong Kong’s accession to the RCEP would be great news for the HKSAR and the mainland as it would reinforce their stance on multilateralism and an international free trade framework.

Last, but not least, consider AI. As one of its key elements of the 2023 Policy Address, the HKSAR government identified AI and data science as one of three focuses of new industrialization development. Since receiving Legislative Council funding a few years ago, Hong Kong now hosts 14 cross-industry AI research laboratories and three universities ranked among the world’s top 30 universities with AI-related subjects and research. Hong Kong’s AI industry is becoming stronger, and it is a key focus as per the 2023 Policy Address. At the same time, the mainland’s AI industry is one of the world’s strongest, and it will likely become the AI world leader by 2030.

To sum up, the GBA confirms and supports Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center, a global offshore renminbi business hub, and an international asset and risk management center. It also supports the city’s development as a green financial center and an investment and financing platform serving the Belt and Road Initiative, but, at the same time, Hong Kong’s strength can play a key role in Chinese modernization, and Chinese modernization fits in with the high-quality development the mainland’s economy is targeting.

The author is a fintech adviser, a researcher, and a former business analyst for a Hong Kong publicly listed company.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.