China unveils measures to support development of Greater Bay Area

China has unveiled a set of measures to further support the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The 20 specific measures, issued by the General Administration of Customs (GAC), focus on five areas, include standard alignment and information sharing, regulatory coordination, cross-border flow of innovation factors, support for emerging industries, and new business forms and models.

The measures calls for streamlined "one-stop" inspection process for approved vehicles from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR) traveling to south China's Guangdong Province, as well as approved Guangdong vehicles traveling to the HKSAR and the Macao SAR) to ease cross-border traffic.

The measures also call for exploring faster clearance procedures for short-shelf-life food products destined for the HKSAR and the Macao SAR. In addition, under the measures, fresh and live agricultural and food products will benefit from a cross-border linkage created by Hong Kong International Airport and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, facilitating their entry into the mainland market.

To boost the GBA's sci-tech development, the measures emphasizes the need to expand the scope of positive list items, making it easier to move research materials across borders.

For imported materials used in biomedical research, the measures seek to pilot bonded supervision and simplify documentation requirements and support the development of technical measures to trade research and evaluation bases for emerging sectors such as new energy storage and smart terminals.

"We are piloting a self-declaration model allowing eligible entities to enjoy tariff benefits after finishing declaration to improve supply chain efficiency for integrated circuits, new display devices, and other industries. By simplifying customs procedures for biomedical and other research materials, and building technical measures to trade research and evaluation bases, we aim to support industrial upgrading in the Greater Bay Area through scientific and technological innovation," said Zhang Geping, director general of the Guangdong Sub-Administration of the GAC.

The measures highlight new business forms and models of foreign trade. Comprehensive bonded zones will be allowed to expand bonded services such as global maintenance, repair, and research and development and design. The scope of "inspect first, load later" model in cross-border e-commerce export clearance will be expanded.

The measures also focus on promoting interconnectivity and strengthening the logistics hub capacity of the Greater Bay Area.

"Every year, around 80,000 voyages of small vessels shuttle between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. The measures call for Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to study and formulate uniform rules and standards for the sanitary supervision of these small vessels. This will make it more efficient and convenient for small vessels to travel across the three places," said Lin Shaobin, director general of the Department of General Operation of the GAC.

China unveils measures to support development of Greater Bay Area

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday presided over a State Council executive meeting that studied work on building a unified national market and reviewed and approved a plan for the development of a modern emergency response system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Noting that building a unified national market is essential to advancing high-quality development, the meeting called for deepening institutional frameworks in areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, social credit and market exit mechanisms.

The meeting also urged efforts to advance high-standard connectivity of market infrastructure to facilitate smooth economic circulation and effectively reduce logistics costs across society.

Emergency management is critical to protecting people's lives and property, the meeting said. It called for accelerating the development of a modern emergency response system, deepening reform and innovation in emergency management, and improving coordinated response mechanisms.

Efforts should be made to strengthen risk prevention at the source, enhance monitoring, forecasting and early warning, and accelerate a shift in governance toward proactive prevention, according to the meeting.

A draft revision of the Law on the People's Bank of China was also discussed and approved in principle at the meeting, which decided to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting