GUANGZHOU, China, Jan. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from GDToday: "Guangdong leads China in high-quality development, and presents new opportunities in such sectors as manufacturing, technology and innovation, trade, and agriculture," Zheng Yongnian, an influential political science scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong at Shenzhen, wrote in an opinion piece for Lianhe Zaobao, the largest Singaporean Chinese-language newspaper. The article was published on January 29.

He sheds light on the High-quality Development Conference which was held in South China's Guangdong province, the province with the largest GDP in China for 34 consecutive years, on January 28, the first working day after the Chinese New Year holiday.

It is the largest official conference held by the Guangdong government in recent years with the participation of over 25,000 attendees including representatives from government departments, corporate sectors, and scholars to discuss how the province can advance the quality of development in 2023.

Zheng noted that the conference sends a strong signal that Guangdong, the economic powerhouse of China, is encouraging all market entities to participate in the new round of high-quality development and is ready to attract high-quality resources worldwide.

Zheng analyzed that to achieve high-quality development, Guangdong vows to pursue coordinated development and address the less-developed regions and business sectors, which means more advantageous policies will be formulated while more opportunities will be created in these fields.

Furthermore, the conference shows Guangdong will further open up to attract high-quality capital, enterprises, and professionals across the globe.

"Global investors are now keen for good investment destinations with stable social and business environment, as an economic recession in the US and European countries is looming while part of Europe is now in the mire of war. China is increasingly attractive under such circumstances. And Guangdong is always a premier choice," he wrote.

To pursue high-quality development, Zheng analyzed that the province might be more selective when it comes to the quality of capital, technology, and labor force. "It is unwise for Guangdong to compete with its global counterparts on cheap land supply, product price, and labor cost, based on its situation nowadays," he wrote.

Zheng suggested that Guangdong could take the lead in formulating more policies to attract foreign employees, in a bid to enlarge its talent pool.

Guangdong is a window through which the international community observes China. "Guangdong now takes the lead in high-quality development, which will not only create new opportunities for its own development, but also pave the way for other regions of China," Zheng wrote.