Hong Kong-Zhuhai- Macao Bridge: Crossing The Line?

The Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (the “Outline”) was published on 18 February 2019. It includes technical details of the longest sea-bridge in the world running from Macau Special Administrative Region to Zhuhai on the on the southern coast of Guangdong province (on China’s mainland) to Hong Kong’s Lantau island that was inaugurated in October 2018 after almost ten years of construction. But more than that, the Outline reveals a series of political and policy objectives tied to the implementation of the bridge project. The Chinese government’s development plans for its south-coast include the islands of Macau and Hong Kong. It has been clear for some time that the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge had the intention of bringing these dynamic island regions into the embrace of the Chinese mainland and more efficiently consolidating their economic promise with that of the Pearl River Delta. The Outline also covers the implementation period from 2022 to 2035 and states that China intends to “fully leverage the composite advantages of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau (and) deepen cooperation among the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau”. As well as making a physical connection and a means of further economic integration, China has constructed a socio-political bridge that, for some, is not built on the most solid foundations. This paper examines whether infrastructural links and political progress are synonymous, and whether both sides of the divide will automatically benefit from physical connectivity.