The Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area is located on the only way to the sea from the the Pearl River to the South China Sea. It is a city cluster based on the Pearl River Delta city cluster, composed of nine cities in Guangdong Province, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Huizhou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, as well as Hong Kong and Macao, a total of 11 cities. The total land area under the jurisdiction of 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area is about 56000 square kilometers, accounting for 0.6% of the national area; In 2016, the total economic output of the Bay Area was 9095.478 billion yuan, accounting for 12.85% of the national total; The permanent population in the Bay Area is 67.9438 million, accounting for 4.9% of the national population. From the perspective of per capita GDP within the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Bay Area, Macau, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen rank among the top three (see Table 1). With strong economic strength, high market activity, strong innovation driving force and relatively complete industrial system, the Bay Area is an important support and hub for implementing and serving the "the Belt and Road" initiative.

表1 2016年粤港澳大湾区11城市横向比较
城市	广州	东莞	深圳		惠州		珠海		江门
GDP（亿元人民币）	19547.44	6827.67	19492.6		3412.17		2226.37		2418.78
常住人口（万人）	1404.35	826.14	1190.84		477.50		167.53		454.40
面积（平方公里）	7434.40	2512	1996.85		11346		1711.24		9505.42
人均GDP（人民币元）	141933	82682	167411		71605		134548		53374
人均可支配收入（人民币元）	50941	43096	48695		28061		40154		24427
城市	中山	佛山		肇庆		香港		澳门
GDP（亿元人民币）	3202.78	8630		2084.02		20281.46		2831.48
常住人口（万人）	323.00	746.27		408.46		734.67		61.22
面积（平方公里）	1783.67	3875		14891		1104.43		32.80
人均GDP（人民币元）	99471	115891		51178		276062		462534
人均可支配收入（人民币元）	40012	41941		20580		—		—
资料来源：各城市2016年统计年鉴；其中香港、澳门数据来源于世界银行。

Table 1 Horizontal comparison of 11 cities in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area in 2016

The Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area is mainly centered on the bay area around the the Pearl River Estuary, and also includes the bay area around Daya Bay and Daguang Bay Area, adjacent to the Greater Shantou Bay Area, Dahong Bay Area and Hailing Bay Area. The Bay Area extends inwards to central urban agglomerations such as Hunan and Jiangxi, connects countries along the "the Belt and Road" in Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Europe to the south, connects the economic zone on the west side of the Straits and Taiwan Province to the east, connects the Yangtze River Economic Belt to the north, and connects the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone to the west, with unique geographical advantages.

The crust in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area is relatively stable and has good engineering geological conditions, making it suitable for port construction in coastal areas; There are abundant land resources, with 7225 square kilometers of reserve land resources such as mudflat and shallow seas. The offshore oil and gas resources are abundant and have enormous potential for exploitation. Good resource endowment is an important foundation for the development of the Greater Bay Area.

The Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area has the world's largest cluster of seaports and airports, and a well-developed road network. As of the end of 2016, the total length of highways in the Bay Area reached 7673 kilometers, the total length of railway operations reached 5500 kilometers, and the total length of intercity rail reached 1430 kilometers. The Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge is expected to be officially completed and opened to traffic in 2018. In terms of ports, there are a total of 11 major ports in the Greater Bay Area, including the three world-class hub ports of Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou, as well as 8 local ports in Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhaoqing, Jiangmen, and Macau. As of 2016, the total cargo throughput of 11 ports in the Greater Bay Area reached 1.47 billion tons; The container throughput reached 651918600 TEUs (see Table 2). In 2016, the container throughput of Shenzhen Port, Hong Kong Port, and Guangzhou Port ranked among the top ten in the world, ranking third, fifth, and seventh respectively.

The Greater Bay Area has formed a three-dimensional aviation network centered around Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, with three international airports centered around Hong Kong International Airport, Shenzhen Bao'an Airport, and Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, supporting Macau Airport, Huizhou Airport, and Lianxi Airport, forming a three core and three auxiliary airport cluster. As of the end of 2016, the annual passenger throughput of the three major airports reached 70.5 million, 41.97 million, and 59.87 million respectively.

表2 2016年粤港澳大湾区内各港口吞吐量
	深圳港	香港港	广州港		珠海港		中山港	佛山港
货物吞吐量（万吨）	21409.88	25680	54437.45		11778		6788.95	6610
集装箱吞吐量（万TEU）	2387.93	1981.3	1885.77		165		135.54	321.7
旅客吞吐量（万人次）	576.71	—	87.34		719		116.18	57.4
	惠州港	东莞港		肇庆港		江门港		澳门港
货物吞吐量（万吨）	7657.5	1460		3236.9		7922.75		20.03
集装箱吞吐量（万TEU）	26.6	364		71.31		113.03		12.94
旅客吞吐量（万人次）	0	26.67		—		15.20		—
资料来源：2017中国港口年鉴。

Table 2 Port throughput in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area in 2016

In 2016, the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area achieved a regional GDP of $1.4 trillion, which still has advantages compared to the world's three Greater Bay Area economies, namely $1.5 trillion in the New York Bay Area, $1.3 trillion in the Tokyo Bay Area, and $0.8 trillion in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, from Figure 1, it can be seen that there is a significant disparity in economic development between cities within the Bay Area, with Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong having a much larger total economic output than other cities. The economic aggregate characteristics of cities within the Bay Area are clearly distributed in three tiers: the first tier consists of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong; The second tier consists of Dongguan and Foshan; The third tier includes Huizhou, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Zhaoqing, and Macau.

From the three major industrial structures of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area in 2016, it can be seen that only Shenzhen and Guangzhou in inland cities exhibit obvious "321" industrial structure characteristics, while Dongguan and Huizhou also show a "321" structural development trend, but currently it is not obvious. The industrial development structure of inland cities in the Bay Area is still dominated by the "2-31" structure. In addition, there is a clear division of labor among the cities in the Bay Area, and an overall spatial layout of A-shaped industries has been formed (see Table 3).

表3 粤港澳大湾区各城市产业分工
城市	主要产业
深圳	电子信息、生物医药、新能源和新材料
东莞	电子信息、电气机械、纺织服装
惠州	电子信息、石化、汽车及现代服务业
广州	汽车制造、装备制造业、食品加工、纺织服装、船舶
佛山	电气机械制造业、陶瓷
珠海	电子信息、石油化工、精密机械
中山	电子电器、五金家电
江门	交通、海洋装备、石油化工、电子信息、包装印刷、纸制品及现代农业
香港	贸易及物流、金融服务、工商支援服务、旅游
澳门	博彩旅游、出口加工、建筑地产和金融服务
资料来源：《珠三角国家自主创新示范区建设实施方案（2016～2020年）》（缺肇庆市资料）。

Table 3 Industrial division of labor among cities in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area

In 2016, the total import and export volume of foreign trade in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area reached 1.217622 trillion yuan, and the trade volume with ASEAN accounted for one-third of the country's total (see Figure 2). Among them, Hong Kong's total foreign trade volume is much higher than other cities, while the inland cities with relatively higher total foreign trade volume are Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan.

In addition, the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area is an important strategic node of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Cities in the Bay Area have close trade relations with countries along the "the Belt and Road". Table 4 shows the trade of some cities to countries along the "the Belt and Road".

Figure 2 Import and Export Volume of Cities in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area in 2016

表4 粤港澳大湾区部分城市对“一带一路”沿线国家贸易情况

表4 粤港澳大湾区部分城市对“一带一路”沿线国家贸易情况
单位：万美元
地区	肇庆		珠海		深圳		东莞
地区	出口	进口	出口	进口	出口	进口	出口	进口
中亚	31712	34282	226042	404558	1667168	552085	171173.6	245700.1
东北亚	18317	4814	105057	101291	1504857	336913	501384.5	1395418
非洲	3010	27603	12867	7882	—	—	—	—
南亚	35235	4984	566859	308843	384897	877812	1036804	1451146
资料来源：2017年各城市统计年鉴。

Table 4 Trade between some cities in Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area and countries along the "the Belt and Road"

2. Progress in cooperation between the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area and the "the Belt and Road"

The Pearl River Delta is the forefront of China's reform and opening up, and has obvious advantages in opening up. As one of the birthplaces of the Maritime Silk Road, Guangdong Province has actively responded to the national "the Belt and Road" initiative, focused on "five links", implemented national deployment, strengthened project support, and issued a series of policies and guidance documents (see Table 5).

表5 广东省参与“一带一路”建设的相关政策文件
时间	政策文件	主要内容
2015年6月	《广东省参与建设“一带一路”的实施方案》	9项重点任务
2015年6月	《广东省参与“一带一路”建设重点工作方案（2015～2017年）》	40项工作
2015年6月	《广东省参与“一带一路”建设实施方案优先推进项目清单》	68个项目，总投资达554亿美元，涵盖基础设施建设、能源资源、农业、渔业、制造业、服务业6个领域
2017年3月	《广东省参与“一带一路”建设2017年度工作要点》	“五通”重点项目
2017年7月	《深化粤港澳合作，推进大湾区建设的框架协议》	共同打造推进“一带一路”建设的重要支撑平台
2018年3月	《广东省促进中医药“一带一路”发展行动计划（2017～2020年）》	加强广东省与“一带一路”沿线国家在中医药领域的交流与合作，促进中医药产业科学发展
资料来源：作者整理。

Table 5 Relevant policy documents on Guangdong's participation in the construction of the "the Belt and Road"

In terms of policy communication, leaders of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Government have visited Europe and other regions as well as relevant key countries, comprehensively promoting cooperation and exchanges with countries along the Belt and Road in various fields. They have established dialogue and coordination mechanisms with government agencies in countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and South Korea; We have established friendly relations with 180 countries and regions, including Pakistan and Gwadar.

In terms of facility connectivity, Guangdong Province actively promotes the construction of comprehensive transportation hubs, fully based on its own geographical advantages and transportation conditions, and strives to improve the level of connectivity with the infrastructure of countries along the route. In terms of ports, Guangdong Province has opened 291 international container shipping routes and established 64 pairs of friendly ports; 184 international routes have been opened, with over 6 million passengers per year traveling between Guangdong Baiyun Airport and countries along the route; In terms of railways, freight trains heading towards Central Asia have already started operating once a week.

In terms of people to people connections, Guangdong Province held cultural exchange activities such as the Guangdong Culture Week and the Guangdong Culture Silk Road Travel in the countries along the "the Belt and Road", and organized special activities such as watching Guangdong by the mainstream media of the countries along the Silk Road. Among them, Sun Yat sen University and Jinan University also set up the "the Belt and Road" International Chinese Training Demonstration Class.

At the same time, the Guangdong Provincial Government also initiated the establishment of the the Silk Road Fund, and successfully held high-level international exchanges and cooperation such as the Africa Investment Forum, the Marine Economy Expo, and the China Africa Productivity Cooperation Forum to promote smooth trade and financial intermediation.

For a long time, Hong Kong has been the forefront of economic and trade cooperation between China and countries along the "the Belt and Road". After the "the Belt and Road" initiative was put forward, all walks of life in the Belt and Road actively responded to the central and national policies. Think tanks (such as the the Belt and Road International Research Institute in Hong Kong), funds (such as the Asian Institutional Investors' Joint Overseas Investment Fund (AIIB)), and chambers of commerce (such as the the Belt and Road General Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong) related to the "Belt and Road" have been established. Various promotion conferences and economic and trade cooperation activities on the "the Belt and Road" have also been launched, setting off the climax of Hong Kong's opening up in the new era.

On December 14, 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region jointly signed the Arrangement on Supporting Hong Kong's Full Participation in and Contribution to the Construction of the the Belt and Road, which provides a top-level design for Hong Kong's participation in the construction of the the Belt and Road. At the same time, as a public organization promoting global trade in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council launched an information website on the theme of the "the Belt and Road", and promoted its offices in countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" to accelerate the implementation of this initiative; The "the Belt and Road" Committee of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council was established to be responsible for comprehensively implementing the "the Belt and Road" initiative, promoting all sectors of Hong Kong to participate in the "the Belt and Road" development, and sharing the huge opportunities brought by the initiative.

Macao has been an important hub of China's Maritime Silk Road since ancient times, and the Macao Special Administrative Region has also been an important window of China's opening up. Against the background of the country's new pattern of opening up under the leadership of the "the Belt and Road" construction, the five-year development plan of the Macao Special Administrative Region has also identified participation in the "the Belt and Road" construction as a development strategy. Through the China Portugal Forum and other economic and trade cooperation platforms, the Macao Special Administrative Region has continuously deepened cooperation with Portuguese speaking countries, actively participated in the "the Belt and Road" construction, and helped Chinese enterprises to explore African and Latin American markets.

In 2016, the SAR government set up a special working committee led by the Chief Executive's Office to coordinate Macao's participation in the "the Belt and Road Initiative". In March 2017, the MSAR government established the "the Belt and Road" Construction Work Committee, which is subordinate to the Chief Executive and chaired by the Chief Executive. The members of the Committee include the heads of the major departments of the MSAR government, such as the Department of Administrative Justice, the Department of Economic Finance, the Department of Security, the Department of Social Culture, and the Department of Transport and Public Works. At present, Macao is actively negotiating and cooperating with Guangzhou Nansha, Zhuhai Hengqin and Zhongshan. The next step will be to make good use of a series of measures taken by the central government to support Macao's participation in the construction of the "the Belt and Road", accelerate the development of exhibition industry, e-commerce, finance and other fields, and achieve moderate economic diversification.

Problems in the cooperation between the Three Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area and the "the Belt and Road"

Within the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, the nine cities in mainland China's Guangdong Province, as well as Hong Kong and Macau, implement the principle of 'One Country, Two Systems'. Even among the nine cities in Guangdong Province, each city has its own interests and practices, and administrative division is quite severe, hindering institutional innovation and economic development. At present, the development plan of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area has not yet been released, and the overall plan of the Bay Area for the construction of the "the Belt and Road" has not yet been formed. There is no clear solution to the "where", "how", "what" and other issues of international production capacity cooperation. The mode and path of carrying out production capacity cooperation with countries along the line are still in the exploration stage. Some are just enterprises' own exploration, and the relevant government departments and social think tanks lack necessary support. In reality, in order to not lose the opportunity, all parts of the Bay Area scramble to take action. However, due to the lack of unified arrangements and coordination, there are duplication in the planning of the "the Belt and Road", such as the convergence of regional functional positioning, overlapping of industrial structure layout, homogeneous and disorderly competition.

（2） The transaction cost of enterprises participating in the "the Belt and Road" is high

Because many countries along the "the Belt and Road" are not transparent in information, enterprises can only obtain overview information of the host country, but do not understand the specific and detailed development of the relevant countries, which has led to the increase in the cost of enterprises participating in the "the Belt and Road" construction, which is reflected in the "three high": first, the high cost of project research and the lack of information make enterprises must carry out detailed and reliable research activities before deciding to implement relevant projects, and the time cost and labor cost of this part should not be underestimated; The second issue is the high implicit cost of bidding and tendering. Due to a lack of understanding of the specific situation in the other country, enterprises can only estimate project costs and judge engineering quotations based on the price situation in their domestic market, which can easily lead to significant differences between actual and planned costs; The third challenge is the high operational difficulty of the project. During the project, enterprises not only need to pay attention to the project itself, but also consider their relationships with local governments, trade unions, non-governmental organizations, and religious groups, which increases the operational difficulty of the company's projects. Therefore, it is necessary to consider how to minimize the impact of information opacity during the construction of the "the Belt and Road".

Many countries along the "the Belt and Road" have the problem of backward infrastructure to varying degrees, and there is a huge demand for infrastructure investment. However, the answer may not be ideal as to how much actual payment capacity is behind this demand. From the perspective of project yield, the investment of domestic enterprises in the infrastructure of the "the Belt and Road" countries is undoubtedly irrational, but from the perspective of obtaining the trust of the host country and opening the market of the host country, they have to start with infrastructure investment. Generally speaking, the more backward a country's infrastructure is, the higher the construction cost and the greater the uncertainty of investment returns. Despite China's rich experience in infrastructure construction and the benefits of promoting exports, private enterprises still need to be cautious when investing in this field. In fact, not only private enterprises, but also state-owned enterprises are facing the same problem. Although they undertake the strategic tasks of the country and have more disposable resources behind them compared to private enterprises, persistent uncertainty may still drag them into the quagmire. Therefore, we must pay attention to and think about the uncertainty of huge infrastructure investment, abandon the investment method of relying solely on China's domestic resources to develop infrastructure abroad, and ensure that the investment projects of the "the Belt and Road" can really achieve the expected benefits.

（4） Trade off between investment in "the Belt and Road" countries and domestic industrial transfer

Although the countries along the "the Belt and Road" can complement each other in terms of trade with China, the investment environment may not have many advantages over the central and western regions of China. For enterprises in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, it is necessary to balance investment in the countries along the "the Belt and Road" with domestic industrial transfer. If you choose to carry out industrial transfer in China, you will certainly lose the window opportunity to participate in the "the Belt and Road" in a certain period of time, and will not be able to share the market opportunities of countries along the "the Belt and Road" for a long time; While choosing to invest in countries along the "the Belt and Road", in addition to facing the uncertainty of geopolitics and the domestic environment of relevant countries, it may also lead to the hollowing out of China's domestic industries and endanger the fundamental position of China's domestic manufacturing industry.

The focus of cooperation between the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area and the "the Belt and Road"

Give full play to regional advantages, deepen international cooperation in ports, airports, expressways, high-speed railways and information, build an international shipping hub and an international aviation portal, become the most important giant gateway hub of the "the Belt and Road", and build a convenient and efficient sea, land and air comprehensive transportation corridor connecting inside and outside the country along the line.

Jointly build a core financial circle, form a financial circle in the Greater Bay Area with Hong Kong as the leader, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Macao and Zhuhai as the support, Nansha, Qianhai and Hengqin as the nodes, strengthen financial innovation, explore RMB settlement and investment business in the regions along the "the Belt and Road", and make Hong Kong become a trade clearing center of RMB in Asia.

The Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area covers Hong Kong, which has abundant higher education resources and high-end professional talents. The former "world factory" Pearl River Delta has transformed and upgraded, giving rise to a group of high-tech enterprises such as Tencent, Huawei, and DJI, with the support of industrial clusters in other cities in the region. Give full play to the technological, talent and innovation advantages of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, cooperate to build a global technological innovation platform, build an innovation community in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, and make it an important technological industry innovation center in the "the Belt and Road" region.

We will promote the transformation and upgrading of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area from a "manufacturing city" to a "creative city", give full play to industrial advantages, support enterprises to invest in countries along the line, carry out in-depth cooperation in advanced manufacturing, and help underdeveloped regions along the "the Belt and Road" to complete industrialization. Efforts should be made to guide "going global" enterprises to implement localization strategies, create more job opportunities for the local area, promote local economic development, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Promote cooperation in fisheries, energy development, ecological protection, and establish a collaborative mechanism for marine pollution prevention and control. Promote cooperation among enterprises in offshore aquaculture, onshore aquaculture, and breeding of high-quality seeds in countries along the route. Jointly carry out research on the protection of nearshore marine ecosystems.

The Vision and Action to Promote the Joint Construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road clearly states that the construction of the "the Belt and Road" should follow the market rules and international prevailing rules, give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation and the main role of various enterprises, and pay attention to the role of the government. Therefore, in connection with the construction of the "the Belt and Road", we should adhere to the principle of combining government guidance with market-oriented operation, fully mobilize the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs and give play to the role of enterprises as the main body.

We will coordinate the "9+2" cities to formulate the overall plan for the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area to participate in the "the Belt and Road" construction, and coordinate the development strategies of cities. Establish the "the Belt and Road" comprehensive information service platform, strengthen the collection, research, sorting and release of economic and trade information, policies and laws, key projects, investment promotion information, supply and demand information of countries along the line, establish an authoritative, reliable, unified, standardized and responsive consultation platform, so that more enterprises can accurately understand the investment promotion, investment, policies, laws, contracting projects, labor cooperation and other information of countries along the line, and provide professional consulting services in a timely manner.

（2） Set up the the Silk Road Fund to support the construction of the "the Belt and Road" project

The government guided the establishment of the the Silk Road Fund for the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, supported cooperation projects under the "the Belt and Road" framework, and focused on supporting the "going global" and technical cooperation of various private enterprises with high-quality production capacity. Pay attention to the investment trends of the National the Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, increase the docking and cooperation with the National Development Bank, the Export Import Bank and other financial institutions, and strive for more financial support for enterprises to participate in the "the Belt and Road" construction.

（3） Enhance cultural exchanges and strengthen cooperation among non-governmental organizations

Enhance cultural exchanges, strengthen exchanges and cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road in cultural, educational, sports and other fields, enhance understanding and friendship, and form a social foundation of mutual trust, integration, inclusiveness and openness. Collaborate with countries along the route to explore and protect the historical and cultural heritage of the Maritime Silk Road. Fully leverage the unique bridge and bond advantages of overseas Chinese. Support the establishment of various joint cooperation organizations for "going global", fully utilize the network resources and networks formed by enterprises that have already "gone global", drive relevant enterprises to build "going global strategic alliances", and jointly carry out foreign investment.