Three union leaders in Hong Kong who are set to attend the national legislative gatherings next month said they will propose extending the multientry-visit policy to Guangzhou, and will promote regional cooperation in vocational training and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
They are Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions President Stanley Ng Chau-pei, a deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC) — the nation’s top legislature — plus federation Chairman Kingsley Wong Kwok, and General Secretary Ma Kwong-yu, both members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top political advisory body.
They will submit 22 proposals when attending the two sessions — the annual meetings of the CPPCC National Committee and the NPC, which will take place on March 4 and 5 respectively in Beijing.
Ng said the proposals focus on facilitating Hong Kong’s integration into the national blueprint and the 11-city Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
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He suggests expanding the multiple-entry policy, currently applied to Shenzhen, to other mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area, allowing more residents to enter Hong Kong for unlimited times.
He proposes a test program covering Guangzhou’s 10 million residents with household registrations, and extending it to all the city’s 18 million residents. He hopes that the policy will eventually benefit all Greater Bay Area residents and inject more momentum into Hong Kong’s tourism industry, he said.
Currently, mainland residents enter Hong Kong through travel endorsements allowing up to two entries per three months, with each stay limited to seven days for tourism. More frequent visits and longer stays are permitted for business or family-visit purposes.
Ng said the multiple-entry policy would encourage mainland residents to visit Hong Kong more frequently, boosting local tourism and the Greater Bay Area’s overall economic vitality. He noted that expanded regional transport networks and improved hospitality infrastructure in Hong Kong have created the necessary foundation for this travel facilitation.
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According to the National Immigration Administration, 299,000 multiple-visit endorsements were issued between Dec 1 and Jan 14, leading to 1.04 million Shenzhen residents, or a 22.3 percent year-on-year increase, visiting Hong Kong during this period.
The union will also propose establishing a cooperative research and development center for the TCM industry in the Hetao cooperation zone — an innovation powerhouse on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen border, involving healthcare departments, educational institutions, pharmaceutical groups and others to accelerate high-quality TCM development and leverage Hong Kong’s unique position as a superconnector.
Wong, the national political adviser, said his proposal will focus on the implementation of the Overall Plan for Deepening Globally Oriented Comprehensive Co-operation among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao in Nansha of Guangzhou (Nansha Plan), unveiled by the State Council in June 2022 to elevate Nansha as a strategic hub for Hong Kong’s integration into national development strategies.
Wong said the proposal includes establishing a regional vocational training school and internship base in Nansha to foster new quality productive forces, as well as setting up assistance mechanisms to help Hong Kong residents in the mainland during times of need.
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Another adviser, Ma, said she suggests the nine mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area launch a uniform transport card to provide discounts for Hong Kong elderly who travel there for short trips.
She also proposes setting up a platform that allows Hong Kong professionals to upload their qualifications so that they can be found by mainland enterprises with corresponding needs.
The FTU proposes enhancing the supervision and management of labor importation agencies to protect mainland construction workers from being exploited during their time working in Hong Kong.
The FTU also suggested establishing registration for imported mainland construction workers, which should be overseen by unions in both regions and allow the mutual sharing of information to better resolve cross-boundary labor disputes.
