Bay Area in vanguard of China's global march

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is in the vanguard of China's global economic rise, said John Ross, senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China.

Technological development in the region stimulated the integrated development of the entire Bay Area, which also contributed to the development of the world economy, Ross said in a speech at Vision China in Macao recently.

He said the region is at the forefront of the "flying geese" development of China.

Ross is a former director of economic and business policy for the mayor of London.

From an economic perspective, Ross said, it's significant to step back and look at the fundamentals of the Bay Area and its long-term strategic development.

"There are no other centers of development of high technology in the world, which match either the California one or the Bay Area," Ross said, adding that China is beginning to move ahead of the US in some technology fields. Technological development can determine many other features of the entire region, he said, including skilled workers, changing infrastructure needs, and the high influx of visitors.

"These features define the Greater Bay Area as one of the most important economic centers in the world," Ross said.

The Bay Area is working hard on developing itself into an international innovation and technology hub.

It consists of nine cities in Guangdong province and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, with the region's GDP accounting for about 12 percent of the national GDP.

Ross noted that the interconnected Bay Area had leading international financial centers, particularly Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Macao is one of the world's most important leisure centers, and manufacturing, retail and other services can be found in the region.

Speaking of the recent unrest in Hong Kong, Ross pointed out the temporary difficulties in the city don't alter any of the fundamentals of the Bay Area. "Hong Kong can't be towed away from China and parked somewhere in the Pacific," Ross said.