Members of the LegCo delegation, led by its President Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen (in blue shirt), visit the Xiamen Biomedical Port on Monday. (PHOTO COURTESY OF LEGCO)

Hong Kong legislators who are on a five-day visit to Fujian said the city can learn a lot from the Chinese mainland province while collaborating with it in developing the Northern Metropolis and advanced technology industries after being impressed by the coastal region’s achievements in innovative technology, urban planning, cultural tourism and elderly care.

The delegation of 33 lawmakers, led by Legislative Council President Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, arrived in Xiamen city on Monday after spending three days in Fujian’s capital Fuzhou. The lawmakers toured the Xiamen Biomedical Port in Haicang district, and visited a company producing orthopedic medical supplies. 

The tour started on Saturday. During their stay in Fuzhou, delegates met with local officials and visited Sanfang Qixiang, a historical and cultural area that has been redeveloped as a tourist attraction. They visited several Hong Kong elderly people residing in Fuzhou in a bid to better understand the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government’s policy of providing support to those who have retired on the mainland. They toured the Fuzhou New Area, a 1,892-square-kilometer industrial development zone that spans most of the city’s seaside areas.

Lawmakers went to the Bin Hai Xin Cheng Planning Exhibition Hall to understand the overall planning and development blueprint for the new area, and visited enterprises that focus on cloud computing and fiber technology.  

Prior to leaving Hong Kong, Leung discussed the city’s close links with the region as over 1.2 million residents are of Fujian origin, while Hong Kong is the largest source of overseas investment and a major export market for Fujian.

As the two regions enjoy close ties, Leung said he believes the visit will provide Hong Kong lawmakers with firsthand experience of and promote deeper exchanges and cooperation with Fujian, which is also a vital part of the city’s overall integration into the country’s development.

Lo Wai-kwok, a lawmaker with decades of experience in engineering, said he was impressed by the Fuzhou New Area’s detailed development plan, including population distribution and industrial policies.

As Hong Kong is also developing a new area — the Northern Metropolis, Lo, in an interview with China Daily, suggested building a similar exhibition hall in Hong Kong to give residents and global investors a deeper understanding of the ambitious plan.

Lo said Fuzhou and Hong Kong can share their experience of developing coastal areas as the two cities both have a lot of seaside land. 

Tan Yueheng, lawmaker and the chairman of BOCOM International Holdings, said he is interested in exploring cross-boundary cooperation opportunities in the financial sector, particularly in Fujian province. 

He said he believes that Fujian can utilize Hong Kong’s green bond market and certification system, and issue green financial bonds in Hong Kong to provide funding for green enterprises and projects.

Lawmaker Holden Chow Ho-ding said he was very impressed by Fujian’s development in advanced technology. The advanced data center and the company specializing in new materials and fabric technology that lawmakers visited on the first day of the trip gross annual revenue of over 60 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) in total, making an enormous contribution to local economy, he said. 

Legislator Chan Wing-kwong, who is a registered traditional Chinese medicine doctor, expressed his interest in exploring ways to extend Hong Kong’s medical services to elderly people who reside on the mainland, particularly in Fujian province.

According to Chan, the living environment in Fuzhou is favorable and the cost of living is significantly lower than in Hong Kong.

Given that over 1 million Hong Kong people have their roots in Fujian, many might want to spend their retirement in the coastal province, Chan said. If the Hong Kong SAR government allows the use of elderly healthcare vouchers in Fujian, or purchases the local nursing home places for Hong Kong’s elderly people in the region, it could encourage more elderly people to settle on the mainland. It could be a good supplement to Hong Kong’s elderly care system, he added

Contact the writers at williamxu@chinadailyhk.com